Team Light: Chasing away the Darkness
by chalala-chan
Summary: A girl wakes up as a Pikachu in a dangerous world. As she fights for her memories, she finds herself caught up in a mission to save the world. But in her adventures she begins to fall for her fiery partner charmander. Will their romance be doomed?
1. Chapter 1

**Ok, so this is based off of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon 2 (PMD 2) The main characters are the hero, a Fpikachu, and the partner, a Mcharmander.**

**In this story I imagined all the pokemon to look human, only with the tails, ears, and behaviors of that pokemon. I mostly do this so I don't have to bother we anatomy differences that could hinder the story. (Such as a four legged pokemon hugging) I'm sorry if you don't like that, you can always just use your imagination to pretend that they are animalistic and skip over body descriptions.**

**DISCLAIMER: I unfortunately do not own pokemon…**

**Team Light: Chasing away the Darkness**

**Chapter 1**

A flash of lightning lit behind her closed eyes. She could feel the heavy rain against her face and I heard a voice calling out to me.

"W-whoa! Are...Are you ok?"

Another crash broke through the air. Everything was dark. She wanted to open her eyes but her lids seemed so heavy and her body felt so sore that she couldn't bring herself to answer the concerned voice.

"No! Don't let go! Just a little longer...Come on! Hang on!"

Lightning struck again.

"N-n-no! I can't...hold on...!"

She could hear his voice straining and becoming frantic with fear. Her heart sank.

And he let go.

"Waaaah!" he screamed and she could hear him getting fainter and fainter as they were pulled further and further apart.

The thunder rang deep in her ears as the lightning flashed twice more. She began to panic, she was alone now and could tell she was falling by the painful whipping of air that stung like needles.

She hit water. This wasn't like jumping into a pool with your friends and splashing about on a hot summer's day. No. She was tumbling through the air and had the wind knocked out of her like she had slammed into a brick wall.

She tried to take in air, but got a lungful of ocean. She frantically began trying to swim, but it seemed hopeless as she tried to cough up the water and breath. She finally brought herself to open her eyes and try to find land, but all she could see was the crashing waves around her.

She looked up to see a perious cliff and her heart soared. If she could only make it over there, maybe she could hang to a rock until the storm passed...

She began to swim (or at least try to swim) over, but another bolt of lightning stopped her in her tracks. It flashed directly behind the cliff, illuminating the menacing face of a sharpedo. Her heart stopped in fear, and she became woozy.

That's when the white waters sweeped her up and thrashed her against the rocks. Repeating and repeating as it battered her already bruised body. She began to loose consciousness, and her eyes fought to stay open. 'I'm gonna die' she concluded.

The last thing she saw was the great sharpedo's sharp gaze.

~LATER~

"Where...where am I?" she finally said aloud. The sun was bright against her eyes, and her throat protested in pain. Above all she could feel her energy giving out, and her eyelids drifting close. But at least she could tell that she had somehow managed to safely make it to shore "I-I can't...Drifting off..."

And slumber claimed her once again.

* * *

><p>"Hmm..."<p>

The nervous charmander folded his arms and looked up anxiously at the wigglytuff shaped tent. He was in deep contemplation and began pacing back and forth before suddenly stopping with steady resolve.

"No. I refuse to be paralyzed by this any longer! This is it. I have to steel my courage today." But despite the determined glare in his eye, his voice, as well as his knees, were trembling greatly. He shook it off and took two firm steps foward and on top of the criscrossed crate in front of the entrance.

"Pokemon detected! Pokemon detected!" came a cute, slightly childish voice from beneath his feet. "Whose footprint? Whose footprint? The footprint is Charmander's! The footprint is Charmander's!"

"Waah!" the charmander was immediately shocked at the unknown voice and lurched backwards in surprise. He looked around frantically for a few moments before sweatdropping and sighing in relief.

"...I can't...I can't work up the courage to go in after all..." His eyes drifted down to his feet, and his lips quivered, "I told myself that this is the day, but..."

He took off his necklace and placed it in the palm of his hand. "I thought that holding my treasure would inspire me..." His sad gaze firmly set on the rock with strange markings on it. He had worked all night trying to chisle a small hole through it without breaking it, just so he could loop the black string in it and carry it around his neck. But he supposed all that work was for nothing, since he wimped out anyway.

He carefully put it back on, and sorrowfully looked back up into the eyes of the wigglytent. "I just can't do it", he sighed,"I'm such a coward" and with that he turned around and began to aimlessly trudge off somewhere. He didn't really care where he went, just anyplace that wouldn't remind him that he was a disappointment to life.

Little did he know that two maliscious pokemon had been watching his entire monolouge, and had nothing good planned.

"Hey Zubat," the round, overjoyous koffing inquired his partner."Did you get a load of that?"

"You bet I did, Koffing." The Zubat replied. Zubat tended to always keep his mouth open, just to flaunt his razor sharp teeth to everyone. But seeing as he only had four, and they were very tiny, no one was ever really intimidated.

"That little wimp was pacing around...had something good, right?" Koffing gleefully questioned. Making fun of people always put him in a good mood.

"That wimp had something, that's for sure." The more level-headed zubat reiterated. "Looked like some sort of treasure."

"Do we go after it?" Koffing was more of a follower, he just goes with the flow.

"We do." Zubat would never miss a chance to piss people off and make their lives worse. So they nodded and began heading after the wandering Charmander.

Yep, nothing good at all.

* * *

><p>Charmander hadn't really been paying attention to where he was going, but eventually ended up on the beach. The krabby were out and blowing bubbles into the air. This helped them train their control of water, but most people just liked the view of the bubbles in the air. So when one stray orb floated in front of the charmander's face he was taken out his depressing trance and looked at where he had ended up.<p>

The sun was going down behind the sea's horizon and turned the sky into a charming swirl of soft yellows and salmon pinks. The sunset's last rays reflected off the ocean and flitted through the bubbles that danced above the water and along the shore.

His breath caught in the scenery of the sparkling ocean and he calmly sat down. He felt a little silly when he realized this is where he always went when he was throwing a pity party, but it was calming never the less. Following the bubble's trail down the beach his eyes caught something that shouldn't be there.

Curious he hopped to his feet to see what it was. Upon getting closer he was alarmed to find someone collapsed on the beach, and began running over to help, ignoring the annoying sand that wiggled into his shoes with each step he took.

"What happened?" he yelled as he bent down next to the girl "Are you ok?" Based on her two long yellow and black tipped ears, lightning bolt tail, and bright red cheeks, he concluded that she was a pikachu. With closer inspection, he saw she was obviously a girl; with her shoulder length blonde hair, simple but flowy white dress, and sizable chest. He was especially interested in that. They weren't huge, but definitely weren't small, they were just right for her small body.

But then she was starting to wake up and he forced himself to look elsewhere. What was he thinking? She was unconscious, and he was checking her out! But he couldn't help it with the way her dress was riding up...

"You're awake! That's a relief." he forced out before he embarrassed himself further. But she didn't notice, as she was too busy taking in her surroundings.

The pikachu furrowed her eyebrows in deep thinking. 'W-where am I?'

The charmander, seemingly determined to make himself look more stupid while trying not to make himself look more stupid, kept rambling on. "You weren't moving at all. I was seriously worried! Do you remember how you ended up zonked out here?"

'I-I was zonked out? What happened?' the pikachu kept thinking to herself, rather than speak her thoughts out loud.

Well, my name's Blaze. Nice to meet you!" he finally revealed "And what's yours? I've never seen you around here before." Now that he thought about it, he had never even seen a pikachu before, but only seen them in books. It was rather strange for one to be this far out.

"Huh, I'm a human..." she finally said aloud. She noticed his flaming tail and was quite confused as to why the pokemon was even talking to her.

"WHAT? But, you look like a totally normal pikachu to me!" Oh shit, he always ends up with the crazies.

Panicing, the cute little pikachu started patting her head, and finding ears there, began stroking them to see if they were real. Giving a fearful glance behind her, she saw the lightning bolt shaped tail sticking out of her butt. Her eyes went wide as she made a mad dash to the water to see her rippled pikachu face reflecting in the water.

Blaze had considered walking off and pretending this didn't happen. But seeing how distressed she was, he didn't want to leave her alone.

"Oh-oh mew, you're right..." She wanted to break down sobbing, she wanted to cry herself to sleep and wake up to find this was all some sort of weird dream. But she knew Blaze was watching her, and her pride wouldn't ler her cry in front of anyone. So she sucked it up and tried to discretely wipe away any tears in her eyes before turning back to Blaze.

But he had noticed. He felt his heart do an unfamiliar b-bmp for the psycho girl.

"Actually, I can't remember anything! How I got here, where I'm from, who am I? Oh mew, oh mew, oh mew."

"You're...a little odd...Are you trying to pull some sort of trick on me?" he finally interrogated.

She quickly looked shocked at his acqusation and rapidly shook her head 'no', her light blonde hair swinging about her face.

"You're telling the truth? All right, then. You're name?" he wasn't completely sure if he believed her, but based on her convincing demeanor, he was getting there.

"...Chupi." she slowly answered after thinking. She surprisingly remembered this little tidbit. It was pretty lame name, she had to admit. And now that she was a pikachu, it was just plain ironic and cruel.

"Oh, Chupi is your name? That's cute." he said grinning. Oops, it was out before he thought it, and she glared when she thought he was mocking her."I mean, well, it's just that, it really is! It's adorable!" He began stuttering and waving his hands about in embarrassment "I'm being serious..."

At his honest compliment, she stopped glaring and gave a sweet smile. Looking down she mumbled "Sorry, most people would make fun of it so I thought that you...No one ever told me that it was cute..." she trailed off blushing.

He grinned again, before gaining the confidence to reach out and pat her on the head. She had to be at least a foot shorter than him, and he enjoyed it to no end. "It's alright." He removed his hand to fold it across his chest. His broad, muscular chest, she noted. "You don't seem to be a bad pokemon, at least." After a moment pause he finally concluded:

"Alright, I believe you. Sorry I doubted you." He smiled at her before getting a serious face," Y'see. More and more bad pokemon have been turning up lately. Many have even gotten aggressive. Things have gotten lawless..."

Ironically, just as he said that Zubat and Koffing marched up to the pair, turning and punching the unsuspecting charmander in the jaw so that he fell down and snatched up his rock necklace.

"Do you know how fricking long it took to find you?" Zubat yelled, chest heaving no doubt from having to run around looking for him.

"What the hell was that for?" Blaze angryly retorted rubbing his sore jaw, his fire type side finally showing. Chupi found herself staring in amazment at his sudden passion.

"You can't figure it out?" Zubat mockingly asked "We wanted to mess with you! Can't face up to us, can you?"

"W-what?" Blaze asked shocked and understandably confused. I mean, really, what the heck kind of reason was that to punch someone in the face. Either they're just stupid, or truly evil.

"And, this is yours, isn't it?" Zubat said swinging the necklace on his long, clawed index finger.

"No! That's-"

"We'll just be taking this." Zubat interrupted.

"Whoa-ho-ho," Koffing stupidly laughed "Not gonna make a move to get it back? What's the matter? Too scared? You're such a coward!"

"No, he's NOT!" Chupi suddenly making herself known. "He's very brave! He saved me and stuck by me, even when he could have just left me here to die. He's a hero!" She tried her hardest to glare the boys, but being so little, it was cute.

Blaze looked back at her in astoundment. No one ever stood up for him before, no one ever called him brave (not even himself), and certainly no one had ever called him a hero.

"Hey, who's the cutie?" Zubat drawled as he began approaching her. She fought the urge to gag and stepped back from his advance.

Thankfully Koffing, for whatever reason (most likely he was bored), brought Zubat back to his senses. "Forget it Zubat, she's with the wimp. Let's just take his treasure and go."

"Fine. See you around chicken." Zubat sneered "Heh-heh-heh."

And with that that walked off into a cave, necklace in tow.

Once they were out of sight, Chupi looked back at Blaze. She was pretty hasty most of the time, and she hoped she didn't embarrass him. But all she saw was his downcast sorrowful look, and she felt her heart breaking just looking at it.

"...Ohhh...Wh-what should I do?" Looking up and seeing her sad but confused face he began explaining "That's my personal treasure. It means everything to me. If I lose it..."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Chupi asked with a smile "Let's go get it."

"Huh? You would really help me?" She had just met her, and she was being nicer then anyone in town had been to him.

"You bet'cha. You're my hero, I'd do anything for you!" she stated like it was nothing and smiled even bigger. But seeing his amazed face, she started to think about her words and blush at the meaning, but didn't say anything more about it. She meant every word after all.

His face broke out into the biggest, toothiest grin she ever saw and she could see he had pronounced fangs. He grabbed her hands in his and hopped up and down "You'll really help me? Seriously?" he yelled with sparkling sky blue eyes "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" He kept hopping up and down with her.

"Don't thank me yet, we still have to go get it."

"Oh, yea. Let's go!" he yelled before charging into the cave, Chupi giggled slightly at his mood swings, but heading off after him.

**So yea. That's the first chapter. Next time Chupi and Blaze will face down the two goons after a long trek through the seaside cave. Till next time!**

**Chalala-chan**


	2. Chapter 2

**So here is chapter 2 of Team Light. I hope you enjoy it. I fixed my grammar mistakes thanks to the author Farla, and used spell check twice. So it should be ok. I hope. I'm trying to update weekly. Enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I'm too broke to buy out Nintendo, so for now they get to keep Pokemon. For now…**

**Team Light: Chasing away the Darkness**

**Chapter 2**

Once inside the cave they realized they were going to have to fight up seven floors of mazes filled with aggressive pokemon.

'Well shit' Blaze thought 'this is gonna be harder then I thought.' Looking over at Chupi, who was happily skipping over to an Oran berry, he smiled 'But at least I have Chupi here.'

They managed to work themselves through the cave. Thankfully most of the water types were low enough leveled that they didn't know any water type attacks yet that could seriously hurt him. But Chupi decided that she would walk in front "Just in case". He knew that she was concerned for him, but he also knew that she just wanted to lead. She was rather hasty and preferred to run instead walk, despite the fact it tired her out quicker, and hated being behind people. So he let her lead. He thought it was cute.

They also realized that her dress, despite how cute, was certainly not made for exploration. Sometimes Blaze swore he saw other pokemon leering at her, which pissed him off greatly. Chupi was really embarrassed to be travelling through the cave in such a scanty thing. Climbing over rocks she was constantly afraid of flashing anyone, and she could only pray the thin white material never got wet...

As they travelled up, Chupi used this time to get used to her new pokepowers .It was weird how tackle as a human was laughable and did practically no damage, but for some reason a pokemon tackle was packed with power. She thought it was pretty badass. And what better way to practice than with a bunch of weak water types. But when she let out her first bolt, she immediately froze in fright as it reminded her terribly of the storm from the night prior and she let out a little squeak.

"Are you ok?" Blaze asked from behind her, not knowing why she suddenly stopped and...squeaked? He'd totally have to tease her about that later, you know when she's not all tense and freaked out.

"Yeah, just peachy." she choked out. But her wide eyes and trembling fist at her side said otherwise. He decided to let it go for now. He had a feeling if he pushed it he was going to get shocked. So he put a reassuring hand on her shoulder and urged her to continue on, but he was soooo gonna get it out of her later.

She eventually sucked it up and tried again, reminding herself that she was in control of it. That made her feel better. Sorta. She could direct it at her command, but it still made her think of the thunderstorm she barely came out of, the one that she almost died in. Her throat felt dry as it dawned upon her that she almost died last night, and she gave an involuntary shiver. It still felt strange to have lightning come out of her cheeks, and she didn't know what to do with her hands, balling them up in a fist still felt awkward for her. But whatever, she'll get used to it.

Finally they had made it to the top of the seaside cavern to find Zubat and Koffing just standing there doing abso-fricking-tutely nothing. Seriously, Chupi wondered, what was the point of coming up here if you're just standing there? Maybe it was because they just had to go through hell to find them but Chupi was slightly pissed and now had more than one reason to kick their asses.

"Uh...hey!" Blaze called out. Chupi almost wanted to groan on how he needed to be more assertive. But the two poison types turned around either way.

Their shocked faces made Chupi want to laugh. They couldn't believe they actually followed them up there, but they tried to play it cool.

"Well, well..." Koffing said with a big smile on his face "If it isn't the big chicken."

"Give...Give me back what you stole from me!" Blaze scrunched up his face timidly. Well, it was better, but it still needed some work Chupi thought. "That's my personal treasure! It means everything to me!"

"Treasure you say?" Zubat piped up "So it really does have value?"

"It could be worth more than we hoped for!" Koffing followed up "We should sell it! Whoa-ho-ho!"

"Whaaat!" Blaze said shocked. Although he really shouldn't be, these people are stupid if they think a hunk of rock will bring in money.

"If you want it, come and get it. Heh-heh-heh." Zubat purred in Chupi's direction, and once again she had to force herself not to vomit.

Instead she vouched for a thundershock, and he immediately fell from the super effective blow. She let out a sigh of relief before realizing that Koffing was advancing on her in a fit of rage for his fallen friend. But Blaze had tackled him down before he could touch her. She gave him a thankful smile before Koffing started getting back up again. Zubat might be a bit better in the brain department, but Koffing certainly had the brawn to make up for it as he was proving to be much more difficult than his companion. Koffing reared back before slamming his jolly self directly into Chupi, causing her to recoil back into the rock wall. A critical hit.

Blaze yelled in fury as he launched himself onto Koffing and begin using his sharp claws to attack his face. Koffing was relentless and still seemed rearing to go. Chupi rubbed her aching ribs as she summoned the electricity to cheeks and squeezed her light brown eyes shut before unleashing another thundershock.

And accidentally electrocuting Blaze in the process.

"Oops." was all she could think of when she looked at his slightly singed hair. "My bad." She tried to joke.

"Oops? That's all you can say? Oops! Tell that to my burnt hair." he groaned at her. He didn't appreciate the electricity, but after muttering a few choice words under his breath he finally looked back up at her, quite meanly might I add, and was dumbfounded at the face he was receiving. Her ears folded down in disappointment and her round, childish eyes were downcast and shining. Her lips slightly pursed in a pout as she fumbled with the hem of her dress awkwardly.

"I-I'm sorry. I'm still getting used to being a Pokemon that I guess that I still don't have t-that much c-control." She glanced back up at him with her honest brown eyes through her long lashes and held them there. 'Damn it! How the hell am I supposed to resist that look?' Blaze thought 'Simple, I'll just ignore it. Yea that'll work.'

"Blaze?" His name left her soft pink lips.

Damn it.

"S'alright." he muttered looking away and patting her head. At this she perked back up and turned her attention back to the since forgotten fight. After that last shock, Koffing was pretty much out of commission, and had no energy to get back up.

Another thundershock later (just for good measure, she told herself), Koffing and Zubat both laid side by side in agony of defeat. Chupi had the urge to rub it in how they got pwned, but she resisted. Barely. She thought Blaze was doing a pretty good job of it on his own, seeing him in a Captain Morgon-esque pose with his foot triumphantly placed on Koffing's round belly. She couldn't help but giggle at his immaturity.

"Owowow..." Koffing muttered in pain, but still smiled. Was his face permanently like this? He could probably be getting socked in the gut and still have that annoying derpy face.

"Urg...We got roughed up..." Zubat dumbly narrated.

"B-blast it...How'd we get wiped out by wimps like them?"

"Whatever just take it!" Zubat yelled before tossing the necklace to Blaze's feet.

"Whoa-ho! Don't think you're awesome cause you won on a fluke." Koffing called out.

"I think it's a perfectly good reason to think we're awesome." Chupi retorted. Blaze nodded in agreement.

And with that, the villains rushed out like the sore losers they are.

"I-I actually got my relic fragment back..." Blaze said in amazement and turned towards Chupi with happy tears in his eyes "And it's all thanks to you." Normally, when a guy cries, Chupi is totally turned off, but with Blaze it seemed...endearing? And it wasn't like he was sobbing, just tearing up. She realized this must be a pretty big deal to him, and if anything the bullies described him as were true, this was probably the first time he ever stood up for himself. He had the ability all along, but just needed someone to push him. She just smiled.

Blaze hopped up again before enveloping her in a hug "Thank you!" She first tensed up, not being used to hugs, but slowly reciprocated as she wrapped her arms around him and fisted the back of his orange jacket in reflex. He squeezed her tightly in response and both held on longer than necessary before releasing.

"So, um, you wanna get out of this cave?" Blaze joked. She rapidly shook her head 'yes'.

They quickly made their way back outside where the sun was amazedly still setting, but the krabby had long since gone and not another bubble remained. Blaze turned towards Chupi as they sat on the beach.

"Thanks again" Blaze said softly. Chupi began to wonder if she was right in helping, pssh what was she thinking, of course it was the right thing to do! And she smiled one of her biggest smiles to Blaze. It felt good being with him.

Blaze began taking off his necklace to show to Chupi. "Here's what they stole. I call it my relic fragment. It reminds me of adventure. I always loved legends and lore. Don't you?" He glanced at her before gazing back at the sea. " Mysteries and treasure, finding new places, unlocking secrets, uncharted territories veiled in darkness, and new lands just waiting to be discovered!" he finished with sparkling eyes. "Wouldn't it be awesome to make history!

That's what I dream of. It excites me. This may seem like a hunk of junk -" Chupi nodded "- but if you look close you can see a strange pattern! It's gotta mean something! I want to find that meaning. That's why I want to join an exploration team. I tried to earlier but...I wimped out." Blaze looked down guiltily, and considering the way he acted around those goons, she believed it.

"What are you gonna do now Chupi?" He crossed his arms again, she now noticed it as a habit he had when he was thinking. She had secretly hoped to stay with him. Without knowing anything about this world she was in, he was the only thing keeping her steady. She didn't want to leave her only friend, but she didn't want to impose herself. But he continued, "Without any memory, and suddenly turning into a pokemon, do you have anywhere to go?"

"..." She was silent.

"If not, can I ask a favor?" He glanced up at her nervously, and her heart thumped with hope.

"You don't have to be nervous. I said I'd do anything for my hero." she reminded him as she scooted closer to him.

"Would you be willing to form a rescue team with me? Please?" he asked so low it was almost a whisper.

It slowly dawned upon her that he was asking her to stay with him. She leaped to her knees in front of him and immediately yelled:

"! YES!"

"R-really? You will?" he asked again, eyes shining in hope "Dude, this is awesome!" He jumped up to his knees in happiness but accidently leaned forward too quickly and began to fall over Chupi.

She fell back onto her butt, using her arm to support her from falling all the way onto her back. Blaze was hovering just inches over her, using his hands in front of him to balance himself. Both initially blushed but Blaze broke out into a grin and began laughing, a deep chuckle that made his shoulders shake. She then began to laugh too, hers a light giggle.

He thought it sounded like twinkling bells.

Still in their position, he wrapped his arms around her waist in another hug, whispering "Thank you." into her ear, the soft, warm breath tickling her hair. Seeing that he was supporting both of them she reached up to wrap her arms around his neck, doing so more eagerly then the last time they hugged. She was beginning to like them.

They both let go and Blaze began explaining how to become a team.

"Well, first we need to head over to Wigglytuff's guild and sign up. Then we'll probably have to train a lot, but let's try our best." he finished with a grin and a thumb up. Chupi mirrored the movement and laughed before heading over to the guild.

**Okey dokey lokey! That's it for now! Honestly I hope it's not too cheesy. For those who were wondering, it plot will change from the game plot, but I wanted to keep how they met the same as the original.**

**Chalala-chan**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello! I decided to be nice and update a week before due. So love me (don't expect this to happen often.)**

**Sorry this is going to be a slightly boring but necessary chapter. Unfortunately it must be done in order to progress. The story probably won't change much from the original until the drowzee mission. But go ahead and read!**

**Disclaimer: Pokemon isn't (and probably never will be) mine. It is Nintendo's.**

**Team Light: Chasing away the Darkness**

**Chapter 3**

On the way over, Blaze quickly explained what Wigglytuff's guild exactly was. His words were rushed in a fever of excitement, completely enamored by the idea of becoming a world-renowned explorer like all of those who had gone to the guild in the past. Chupi had to admit that she was getting rather excited too. The thought of rescuing helpless pokemon and being admired far and wide could put anyone in a good mood, and Chupi was no exception. But all too soon they had made it up the long flight of stairs to the very top of the guild entrance.

"I'm sorry, but this tent is giving me the creeps." She looked up into the round glazed eyes of the wigglytent (as I like to call it), and shivered. In broad daylight it was probably very cute, or at least intended to be. But with the fiery glow of the tiki torches illuminating its giant, round balloonish body and shadowing its eyes she couldn't help but want to just back away and pretend she never saw it. She knew she was probably going to have nightmares tonight.

"Yeah, it does that to people. But we have to go in if we want to become an exploration team..." He glanced down timidly before shaking his head and defiantly glaring back into wigglytent's face. Chupi could only imagine what was going through his head at the moment, but she could make a good guess. He took one giant step onto the crate in front of the entrance and held his breath. At least this time he kind of knew what to expect.

"Pokemon detected!" a childlike voice rang out. Blaze jumped despite himself but made no movement to get off. Chupi though had no idea what was happening, but held in her confusion and waited. "Whose footprint? It's Charmander's...again!"

A moment passed as the partners held their breath in anticipation.

"...You may ENTER!" a loud male yelled. "But someone's with you, get them to stand on the crate!" The voice indicated to Chupi.

"C'mon Chupi! Your turn." Blaze smiled for reassurance. He felt a lot better now that that was out of the way, heck that wasn't that bad at all! He couldn't understand why he was so nervous before. He would have to try being adventurous more often.

Chupi panicked a little on the inside, but tried not to show it for Blaze's sake. If he saw she was scared, he would flip. She didn't really know what would happen if she stood on it. Would air tickle her feet? Would she fall through? Would she-

"HEY YOU! Get on the CRATE!" the voice repeated. She didn't need to be told three times, and she skittishly hopped on.

"Pokemon detected! The footprint is! The footprint is. The footprint is...uh..." the cute young voice returned. But now it sounded unsure and a little worried. Chupi and Blaze gave each other nervous glances, and she began playing with the hem of her dress again.

"What's the MATTER? Who IS it?" the loud one demanded.

"It's uh maybe...Pikachu's? Yeah maybe Pikachu's!"

"What d'ya mean MAYBE?"

"I-I'm sorry, it's a foot I've never seen before..." The charmander could understand his predicament, as he was just as confused when he first saw the pikachu on the beach.

"Well that's just CRUMMY! Isn't it your JOB to check footprints?"

"I-I'm sorry..."

Blaze twitched a smile and asked, "Are they arguing?" Chupi tried her best not to laugh, only letting a few slip between her closed lips because she could hear one of them stomping their way towards them.

"Sorry to make you WAIT. Hm it really is a Pikachu. Well, you don't seem bad. You may ENTER."

Chupi was shocked. If there was a rise of evil pokemon, and a stranger came to your doorstep, would you base their character on 'they don't look bad'? It didn't seem too incredibly safe if you asked her, but the fact they were so trusting and invited people into their guild openly made her happy. If more people were as welcoming as they were, then maybe bad pokemon wouldn't be a problem. She knew she was going to like this place.

Her thoughts were interrupted though when the gate was opened in front of them, and they let themselves in. They were surprised when they saw a single ladder leading down into the underground, but slowly climbed their way down it. They landed in a large room with plenty of pokemon bustling about; looking at signboards, chatting amongst themselves, or manning little shops. It was a lot for both of them to take in, but it just helped in raising their excitement.

"I wonder who all these pokemon could be? Maybe they're exploration teams!" Blaze said while turning a full three sixty to look at everything.

"Excuse me!" A shrill bird pokemon came into view, and bounded up the pair. "You two just came in right? I'm Chatot." the colorful bird practically sang. "I'm the pokemon with everything you need to know." Chupi smiled at Chatot's nice gesture. "I'm the guildmaster's right-hand man. Now shoo! Get off the premises!" Chupi didn't know if he was just bad at first impressions, or if he was just naturally a jerk, but she was probably going with the latter. She scowled angrily at him in an attempt to show him her displeasure. Not that it worked because he began using his wings to ever so _not _gently shove them towards the ladder back out.

"H-hey! What are you doing? We just got here! We want to form an exploration team!" Blaze protested to deaf ears.

"W-what? Exploration team?" Chatot immediately stopped what he was doing and turned his back to duo. Chupi and Blaze gave sidelong glances to each other, Blaze making a cuckoo sign and pointing towards Chatot when he began muttering to himself about 'crazy kids' and 'rigorous training'. Chupi stifled a laugh behind her hand.

"Is the training that hard?" Blaze asked with his arms crossed.

"Oh no! No no no! Of cooourse not!" Chatot retorted too quickly and gave a nervous laugh while looking away from their faces. They both just gave a doubtful look, but he carried on. "Our program is super easy! Ha ha ha ha...Well I'm glad y'all want to be a team. Let's get you signed up!" He began shoving them again, only towards a different door. "Before you change your minds." he muttered under his breath.

"What was that?" Chupi asked.

"Oh nothing!" Chatot flapped his wings around.

"He keeps changing his attitude." Blaze noticed. Chupi nodded her head in agreement, both silently making up their minds to try to _never _get on his bad side and to avoid him as much as possible.

"So, here is guildmaster Wigglytuff's room. Never, and I mean _never_ upset the guildmaster. Ever." The two gulped in response, but entered anyway. Once inside they took notice to the single pokemon in the room with his back turned to the group. "Guildmaster! I brought new apprentices!" The pokemon made no move. "Uh, guildmaster...?"

Suddenly the wigglytuff quickly spun around, startling all in the room. 'Oh mew.' Chupi thought 'It's eyes are just as creepy as the tent outside. It's like it's staring into my soul. Oh mew, it probably is...' She shuddered and tried to look away, but found she couldn't. It was so terrifying, but also so fascinating she couldn't bring herself to do anything but stare into the round innocent orbs.

"Hiyas! I'm Wigglytuff!" the wigglytuff introduced himself. "So, you wanna be an exploration team? Sure! What's your team name?" Chupi couldn't help but think something was seriously off about this...thing.

"Oh, um a name? We didn't think of that." Blaze crossed his arms thinking. "What do you think Chupi?"

Chupi had a sudden flashback to what Blaze said before. _"Mysteries and treasure, finding new places, unlocking secrets, uncharted territories veiled in darkness, and new lands just waiting to be discovered!" he finished with sparkling eyes. "Wouldn't it be awesome to make history!" _And she immediately came up with the perfect idea.

"Team Light, because we'll bring light to the darkest of mysteries ahead of us." she whispered while looking at Blaze. Recognition of where the name came from hit him, and let out a huge grin.

"...Light? Team Light! That's perfect. It suits us." He nodded to her, and she smiled back.

"Okey dokey lokey! It's settled then!" Wigglytuff agreed with a smile, completely ignoring the private moment they were having. "Registering. Registering." he sang. "All done. YOOM...TAH!" He flailed his little arms up in happiness and the entire room seemed to flash and shake with the power he exerted. Now, not only is Chupi severely creeped out by this thing, but now she feels she has reason to fear for her life. The wigglytuff seemed incredibly unstable mentally.

"Congratulations you two! You're now an exploration team. I commemorate you with...this!" he cheered as he passed them a team kit.

"An exploration team kit?" Blaze asked.

"Of course silly! Everyone gets one. Quick, open it up!" Wigglytuff rushed his words in excitement. Inside they found a team badge, a wonder map, and a treasure bag. As Wigglytuff began explaining all the wonders and uses of their equipment, Blaze began looking inside the treasure bag and pulled out a Zinc Band and Red Ribbon.

"Ooooh, those are a special gift from me!" Wigglytuff winked and Chupi shivered.

"T-thank you!" Blaze said in gratitude. "We'll do our best!"

"Now now that's enough out of you two!" Chatot announced. He had been surprisingly quiet for the last few minutes, and Chupi wondered if it was because he was as afraid of the guildmaster as she was." We need to leave the guildmaster alone to do his work."

"Awww, but Chatot I don't wanna work, I wanna hang out with my new friends and-"

"No buts. You have a guild to attend to." Chupi then realized who was _really_ running the show. They soon left, much to Chupi's pleasure, and started following Chatot down a long narrow hallway, which he called the 'sleeping chambers'. They finally made it to the very end of the hall to a small open room with a window overlooking the sea and two little bundles of straw for bedding. Wait, two? He couldn't possibly mean that they-

"And here's your room!" Chatot sang.

That evil bastard.

"W-wait! You mean we're sleeping together? In the same room?" She looked up at Chatot in hope he didn't mean what she thought it did.

"Of course. You two are partners, and shall share a room." Of course. "You will live here while you work for us. Work starts tomorrow, so wake up early, that is all." And with that he scampered off. Blaze immediately jumped into the nearest pile of straw, completely oblivious to Chupi's discomfort.

"Yay! We have beds!" he yelled while tossing some of it into the air. 'Wait, he's acting like he didn't have one before' she thought.

"Y-yeah that's great..." she mumbled, still troubled by the situation. Blaze stopped rolling around in the bed.

"What's wrong?" Blaze asked looking at her. Did she regret joining a team with him? Did she want to resign? He started to worry.

"It's just that, well, you're a boy..."

"Yeah...?"

"And I'm a girl..."

"Yeaaah." Now he was starting to get confused.

"And we have to share the same room..." She was really hoping he would get the hint, or was she going to have to spell it out for him?

"Uh-huh..." He was still confused until- "Ohhh. Oh! Wait, what? Why are you worried? Different gendered pokemon share rooms all the time. It's pretty common really."

"Oh, for humans, it's only something that you do with someone you're...intimate with." Great. Now she was probably blushing like some idiot. She wasn't really sure why she was making such a big deal about it; it was just something that made her nervous.

"Oh, well maybe we can ask Chatot for an extra room?" He blushed at what sharing a room meant to her, but he wanted to make sure she was comfortable and not freak her out.

"Oh, no! It's okay. I trust you. I know you wouldn't try anything." She moved to sit on her bed. "Besides, it could be fun. And if there was anyone I had to be with, I'm glad it's you." She felt a shiver go down her spine at the thought of sharing a room with Wigglytuff or worse...Chatot. Yuck. She didn't want to imagine what kind of stuff went on in _there._

"I'm glad." He was rather happy at the thought she was comfortable enough with him, even though they have only known each other for a day. Despite the short acquaintance, they both already saw each other as good friends. He had never really had a friend before. Sure, the townspeople weren't mean to him (with the exception of Zubat and Koffing) but they only ever gave him the polite courtesy of a stranger. Most of the others were in exploration teams and didn't give him a second glance because he was average. He wasn't in a team, he didn't own a shop, he was pretty much outcasted. The town revolved around exploration teams and services that cater to the guild, if you weren't in the loop, you were practically shunned. Chupi was the first person to be sincerely nice to him. People he's known for years passed him over, but she didn't. He could probably consider her as his best friend.

Chupi wasn't sure why she was comfortable with him. Should she be? She technically only met him only a few hours ago, but was already rooming with him, and formed an exploration team with the charmander. This was happening so fast! Maybe it was best not to think about it and just let life flow. She went along with everything so far, what could happen? Blaze was by no means bad, and was deserving of her trust. He saved her didn't he? Okay, maybe he didn't _save _her, but he did find and help her. That was enough to make him a hero to her. Would it be the same if he had come later? What if it was Zubat or Koffing who found her? She cringed. They would have probably taken advantage of her unconscious state. She was very lucky to have met Blaze she concluded and settled their exploration kit in between them, getting out the bag's contents.

"So, which one do you want?" Chupi asked referring to the red ribbon and zinc band. She reached her hand out to touch them and felt her hand surge with power when she brushed the ribbon. She felt like she could take on a rhydon, like she could take on the world. It was completely new and strange, but irresistible. "I-I think I want the ribbon."

"Oh cool, cause I wanted the other one." Chupi tossed it his way and he snapped the thin silver band in place onto his upper right arm. Chupi gingerly picked up the red fabric and held it there in her palm. It was thick, at least two inches, and came to a point at each end. She wasn't sure where to put it, and sat there staring at it before it was plucked out of her hand. She snapped her head up in astonishment.

"Hey!" Blaze had taken it and was shuffling towards her.

"Just hold still for a second." Blaze started to get closer and closer until he was on his knees while she was still sitting on the bed. He lightly grabbed her ear making her twitch in surprise, and tied the ribbon around it ending it in a knot rather than a bow. He stepped back to admire his handiwork.

"Well?" she asked.

"Yep, it looks good and _I_ am amazing. You don't seem to be one for a girly bow anyway." he teased.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"

"What do you think it means?" He smirked.

"I am _so _girly!" she lamely responded.

"Yea yea, besides it looks better that way. The red matches your cheeks perfectly. It looks cute."

"But, I, you, wha, meh." She was at a loss for words. She couldn't argue with a compliment. Damn it, he won.

"Let's just get some sleep." He patted her head, ruffling her hair, in an attempt to placate the blonde. As fun as it was to watch her struggle, he was getting tired and needed sleep for tomorrow.

"...Fine." she grumpily agreed. It was dark outside with the only light source being the stars through the circular window. She let out a yawn and curled up in her bed. She could hear Blaze mumbling to her about what awaited them tomorrow, but she tuned him out as she began wondering to herself.

'How did I become a pokemon? Will I return to normal? What will happen tomorrow? Can I get my memories back?' she rapidly thought. But then she heard Blaze lightly snoring beside her and smiled.

'Is is weird that I hope this isn't a dream?'

**Okay, there it is. Tada. I had to make Wigglytuff a weirdo, he's my favorite character! If you're confused when Chupi references him; Chupi doesn't know what gender he is…and refers to him as an "it". XD**

**Favorite this if you got the My Little Pony reference!**

**Sorry if the ending scene was stupid. I'm still unsure about it.**

**Chalala-chan**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey there readers! Here is my next chapter. Great news, people actually favorited my story! Gasp! I honestly never expected that to happen. Especially since this is a run of the mill game redo.**

**Disclaimer: I totally don't own Pokemon, Nintendo does.**

**Team Light: Chasing Away the Darkness**

**Chapter 4**

Blaze was just starting to wake up. He was always an early riser and enjoyed having an active morning, and today he was all the more eager because it was his first day being an explorer! He bolted up, now fully awake, and began getting dressed and ready for a day of adventure. He took a glance at his partner, still asleep, next to him. He didn't know how she managed to mix chaos with elegance but she did. Her hair was in disarray around her face, yet looked like each strand belonged where they were. Her fingers twitched in remembrance of her dream. She was curled up in a tiny ball before shifting to where her legs were sprawled out everywhere, but were still graceful. He held his hand over his mouth so his laughs wouldn't wake her. It was pretty funny and it was now that he really wished he had a camera.

The sun came in bright through the window, but she kept sleeping, leading him to believe she was a late-sleeper. He was ready to go, but didn't wake her up. He wanted her to be able to sleep just a little longer. That, and he was formulating a plan to get a camera. So he reclined back on his bed and decided to wait for her to wake up naturally. Guess again.

"YO! YOU THERE! RISE AND SHINE" Loudred jumped in and yelled for all to hear. Chupi snapped up, but did so too quickly and held her head as the blood rushed through it.

"U-urg. I'm awake...now." She was still having trouble forming thoughts, let alone sentences. Loudred had nearly blasted both of their eardrums. "My poor ears."

"C'mon! Snap OUT of it! I'm Loudred!" he boldly introduced himself. "If you're late to morning briefing, you'll be SORRY!" He then began mumbling, which for him was in a normal voice, about 'Wigglytuff's temper' before shuddering and taking off. Chupi was glad she wasn't the only one terrified by the pink balloon.

"W-what did he say? Morning briefing?" Their ears were both still ringing.

'So it wasn't a dream.' Chupi thought and gave a glimmer of a smile.

"Ahh! What are we doing? We gotta go!" Blaze grabbed Chupi's hand and dashed down the hall to the main lobby. When they got there they saw other groups standing in a formation of two rows in front of Chatot. They tried slinking into the back, but Loudred noticed and pointed them out.

"You're LATE ROOKIES!" Chupi wanted to argue that if his loud voice hadn't disorient her, she might have made it on time. (A weak argument, but plausible) But Chatot beat her to the punch.

"Shut up Loudred! You're voice is much too loud!" He must not be a morning person either. "Well, it looks like everyone is here. Guildmaster! Everyone's here!"

Wigglytuff suddenly opened his office to make a dramatic entrance. Chupi began looking at her feet and avoiding Wigglytuff's absent eyes.

"Guildmaster, is there anything you would like to say?" Chatot continued.

"...zzzzzzz..."

"I-is Guildmaster asleep?" Blaze whispered into Chupi's ear. This set off a chorus of whispers about the sleeping master.

"Thank you for your...words of wisdom." Chatot tried to cover. "Let's do our morning cheer!" Chupi and Blaze looked around in confusion as the pokemon began reciting some cute little motto before scuttling off to their post. Team light lingered, not really knowing what to do. Chatot saw them though, and led them to a bulletin board. Chatot began explaining how the board worked, but Chupi started dozing off. She really was a late sleeper, and generally didn't have her brain turned on until noon. But it was fine since Blaze was conversing with the bird pokemon anyway, so she was content with staring into space. That is until Blaze mentioned something.

"...because time is out of whack. That's why there's bad pokemon." Blaze said confidently. Chupi decided she should probably start listening about now. But then she started drifting off again. What could she say? A girl needs her sleep. She snapped back to reality when she heard her name.

"Yea Chupi! ...Are you paying attention?" She weakly nodded. "Okay, good. That cave we went to yesterday was a mystery dungeon. The floors always change every time you enter. You lose all your money if you faint, and even half your items. You'll get kicked out if you faint. They're very weird, but very exciting because there's new things to discover every time!" Chupi could tell he was going off on a rant again by the way his eyes were shining, and she went back to ignoring him...until Chatot gave them their first mission.

It was about a spoink who lost her pearl up in the rocky bluffs, and needed someone to get it back. Chupi was all for it. It sounded simple enough, and she doubted they were ready for anything harder than that (Besides, anything more difficult would require way too much effort for her.) But Blaze looked pissed.

"We're only supposed to fetch an item someone dropped?" he snarled, barring his teeth. Chupi put a gentle hand on his shoulder and gave a small smile, effectively calming him down. "I just wanted to do something more of an adventure..." he pouted.

"Well get over it. Rookies won't get to do anything like that for a while." Chatot chastised and flew off most likely making sure Wigglytuff was actually doing his job and not still sleeping with his eyes open.

"Well, I guess we better get this over with." Chupi said trying to cheer Blaze up, who was now looking utterly depressed.

Blaze had managed to lead them there, and they stopped to look up at the large dungeon. According to Blaze it should be the same type of pokemon as yesterday, only slightly higher leveled, so Chupi wasn't worried and began leading the way again. Blaze chuckled at her antics to always lead.

Chupi at first felt extremely guilty for harming the other pokemon, but that was short lived when she realized her opposers didn't share that remorse. She guessed it was hurt or be hurt. Was the time stream's...wackiness really causing these pokemon to act up? It seemed so strange, that she comes in right when crime reached its peak of the century. It had to be coincidence, right? She couldn't have anything to do with this...could she? She shook her head to clear the thought. There was _no way_ her appearance had any impact. It was crazy! But she couldn't help but feel a wave of nostalgia when the time stream was brought up...like she knew all about it. But a chingling broke her train of thought when it tackled her from around the corner.

"Eek!" Chupi squeaked when she fell on her butt, the chingling on top of her. But she quickly responded with a thundershock, and with the close proximity, the little psychic pokemon was fried in seconds. "Oh yay! I leveled up to nine!" Chupi commented happily, getting up with the help of Blaze.

"So..."Blaze started.

"So?" Chupi blinked.

"You squeaked." He grinned

"...Shut up." Chupi blushed. "You heard nothing."

"Oh, I heard _something._" Blaze laughed.

"Do you tease everybody like this? Do you find enjoyment in this?"

"Nope, only you. And yes, I do. This is quite entertaining." It was true, there were hardly any pokemon here to fight, and there were still a couple more floors until they got to the top. Things were very uneventful at the moment, so talking was the only thing remotely interesting.

"I can't help it! I'm a _mouse _pokemon! Mice squeak!" Chupi defended. She was never one to go down without a fight.

"Uh-huh. Suuure." Blaze continued.

"Argg. Can we just drop this, it's embarrassing." She pushed her palms into her face but looked at him over the tips of her fingers.

'Crap. It's that look again!' Blaze thought, noticing the light pink that edged out past her red cheeks in a blush. 'Damn it.'

"...Fine." he grumbled and patted her head before shoving his hands into his jacket pockets. They managed to make it to the top without too much trouble, seeing as all the local pokemon were pretty weak. Blaze noticed the pearl glimmering near the back and picked it off the ground.

"This must be it. Well, that was boring." Blaze sighed handing the orb over to Chupi to put in the bag on her shoulders.

"Aw, don't think of it that way Blaze. Since we were able to do this mission without a hitch, Chatot might let us start doing harder missions." Chupi explained. "This is just the stepping stone to better things. But that won't happen anytime soon if we don't get this back now. The quicker we get this back, the more impressed Chatot will be!"

"Thanks Chupi." Blaze smiled. "You have a way of explaining things better than Chatot. You know, one that doesn't tick me off. You keep me calm." Chupi knew it was hard for fire types to keep their cool. They're characteristically more prone to having short tempers, and easily go into fits of anger. Each type had some kind of personality trait. It seemed kind of prejudice, but you can't argue with facts.

They rushed back to the guild, determined to make a good impression to the other apprentices at the guild. This was their chance to prove themselves, and they weren't going to miss it. Both were heaving in gulps of air when they finally ran up the flight of stairs to the guild, and flew down the ladder straight to the waiting Chatot and Spoink.

"We...we found it..." Chupi breathed heavily, chugging down half her water bottle before handing it to Blaze and wiping the excess water off her mouth with the back of her hand.

"Y-yeah just...just give us a minute." Blaze panted before finishing off the rest of the bottle and bending over with his hands clamped onto his knees. After they both regained their composure and cooled down, Chupi wrested the small pink pearl from her bag and held it out to Spoink. The girl gasped in happiness and carefully rolled the orb into her hand before gently placing it on top of her head.

"Oh thank you, thank you, _thank you!_ " the small girl cheered. She was elated to be reunited with her treasure and hopped around in joy around the two. "I can't thank you enough! Oooh, here's your reward!" she squealed handing them an iron, a protein, a calcium, and...two thousand dollars?

"Um, whoa, this can't be right. You gave us way too much money." Blaze pointed out.

"Oh no. I only wish I could give you more! But I must be going now. Thank you again!" Spoink bounced off joyously.

"Blaze, do you know what this means?" Chupi turned towards her partner.

"Yes, it means..."Blaze continued.

"We're RICH!" they yelled together, hugging each other in happiness.

"Ahem, I'll just be taking that." Chatot butted in and snatched up the money.

"W-what? Hey!" Chupi began swiping at him, only to be stopped by Blaze picking her up under her arms and holding her back.

"Hold it Chupi!" Blaze struggled to hold the squirming girl, who was now trying to use her legs to kick Chatot. "What do you mean Chatot?" Chupi finally stopped trying to murder Chatot and lay there pouting in Blaze's hands. It was weird she decided, that he was being the calm one. Wasn't he supposed to be the hothead? But Chatot is just so frustrating...

" This money goes to the guildmaster." Chatot explained, almost grinning at their misfortune. "Teams only get to keep ten percent of the profits."

"Oh, now we're poor again..." Chupi deflated. She was really hoping to but some different clothes, seeing as her current one was still as uncomfortable as yesterday. She let out a sullen sigh as Blaze let her down from his grip.

"It'll be fine Chupi." Blaze comforted. "We'll make some money eventually." She cheered up a bit.

"Yeah, I guess so." She smiled.

"Dinner's ready everyone! Come and eat!" A little chimecho came into the room and scurried back into the dinner hall before she was run over.

"FOOD!" Everyone in the room dropped what they were doing and dashed for the kitchen. Team Light was caught in the rush and was forced into the dining room where neat bowls of food sat at the long table. Chupi nearly drooled at the sight, she hadn't eaten since...well she couldn't remember, but judging on the way her stomach was growling it must have been at least a day.

Eagerly sitting down at the end of the table she began nibbling on a mago berry tart, wanting it to last. But then she heard loud smacking noises to her right and looked to see everyone literally stuffing their faces! Well, everyone except for Wigglytuff who was playing with a large apple, but Chupi was trying to ignore the thing and acted like she didn't notice. She saw Blaze using both hands to scarf up fistfuls of cheri berries. But that wasn't nearly as bad as Loudred who was currently chugging down his moomoo milk after nearly choking on a plateful of aspear berry crisp that he had tried to shovel down all at once. She cringed in revulsion, but when her stomach churned in hunger she felt compulsed to do the same and began eating the fruit with new fervor.

"Ooh, I'm full..." Chupi commented while patting her pronounced tummy in content. "I can't remember the last time I was this happy."

"But you can't remember anything." Blaze chided. "And be careful, you might get fat."

If looks could kill, Blaze would be six feet under.

"Whatever, let's just go to bed." Chupi huffed and turned over in her bed. She was getting irritated with his teasing, and joking about her unknown past was a little too personal for her. (That, and calling her fat.) She closed her eyes in determination (and annoyance), trying to pretend to be asleep. But that was very hard to do when she could feel Blaze's warm breath on her shoulder. Goosebumps went down her spine as it tickled her nerves.

"Hey, Chupi..." Blaze fidgeted. "Don't be mad. I wasn't serious, I was just joking." Chupi continued to ignore him.

"It's just," Blaze continued, " I've never really had friends before, so, I got carried away. I'm sorry." Blaze grew silent, thinking his pleas were on deaf ears. Blaze gave up his pursuit and slugged over to his bed to go to sleep.

.

But she had heard him and smiled in her mock sleep. She'll forgive him.

This time.

**Ok, that's it for now. Don't worry it will get better, I think next episode they will start meeting the other apprentices. Like Sunflora, Bidoof, and the Diglett family. But until then this is it. See ya! And please R&R, my last chapter didn't get a single review :( . But maybe that's because I posted a couple days after chapter 2 when I said I would update weekly. Meh, whatever.**

**Chalala-chan**


	5. Chapter 5

**Oh my goodness here's chaptah 5! I'm just so super excited. This is chapter is very different (to me) then the original! Yay difference! **

**Disclaimer: I don't in any way own pokemon, but my lawyers are working on that…**

**Team Light: Chasing Away the Darkness**

**Chapter 5**

"UP AND AT 'EM ROOKIES!"

"Oh mew, is this how every morning is going to be?" Chupi drowsily said in irritation. Seriously, the repetition of this is getting annoying.

"Could be worse." Blaze reminded. "Could be Chatot."

"Good point."

"Let's get to morning announcements." Blaze finished. He could see she was in a good mood, but wasn't sure if she was still upset over last night. Honestly, girls could be so confusing! One moment they're all pissy, the next they're sunshine and gumdrops. Maybe she just forgot? If that was the case, there was no way he was going to bring it up. Maybe it was just best to let it pass naturally.

But Chupi had not forgotten. Just because she had forgiven him doesn't mean she won't let him squirm. Where was the justice in letting him off scotch free? It was all in good fun. She would tell him eventually.

They made it time for the motto (which they had asked a nice fellow, Corphish to teach them so they wouldn't embarrass themselves.) As they were about to drop by the kitchen for a little snack for breakfast Chatot spotted them.

"I see you're lost again. Let me lead the way." Chatot smugly said with his nose in the air.

"Oh no, we were just going to grab a bite to eat first-" Chupi began explaining. But Chatot would have none of that, and promptly pushed them back up the ladder to the job boards.

"Hey, this is a different board then yesterday." Blaze noticed.

"Why yes, it is. This is the fugitive board. Since there are so many bad pokemon out right now, we have a separate board for them. The other one is simply jobs to help other pokemon with lost items, or escaping from dungeons." Chatot clarified. "This board contains different levels of fugitives based on how dangerous they are. From evil to naughty and everything in between! And- Hey, what's the matter Blaze? Why are you shivering?"

Chupi was so absorbed in Chatot's speech (she decided to try to pay attention today.) that she hadn't noticed her partner's shaking form next to her.

"It's just that...fugitives are dangerous right?" Blaze gulped. "So what if we get a really scary one? Or one that's too hard?" Chupi put her hand on his arm and tried to give him her most reassuring smile. He stopped quivering...a little. They were still new to this, so it was understandable to be scared. Bad people are unpredictable and terrifying. Even though the board has them labeled at a difficulty level, it could be wrong and the villain is worst than thought. Nothing is for certain.

Chatot sighed in irritation like he was talking to a two year old. "We'll pick out you're mission for now. But first let's get another apprentice to give you two a tour."

This struck a nerve with Chupi. 'How dare he talk to Blaze like that? Condescending jerk...' She found herself glaring at Chatot while squeezing Blaze's arm.

"Bidoof! Can you come here?" Chatot called down the ladder. Sure enough another pokemon heaved themselves up the steps to greet them. Or at least greet Chupi.

"Hello there! I'm Bidoof yup yup." His eyes never left Chupi's chest, not that said girl noticed.

'What is this guy's deal? Stop ogling Chupi you perv!" Blaze mentally screamed. 'Then again, didn't I do that when I first saw her... C'mon Chupi! Beat some sense into this creep!'

But sadly she shook his hand in a friendly gesture and introduced herself kindly.

'Of course. She's oblivious. That figures.' He groaned in his mind, and resisted face palming. Instead he settled with scowling at the dumb rat-beaver thing.

"I'm Blaze." Blaze gruffly stated, bringing Bidoof's attention away from Chupi and onto her intimidating partner. He had his arms crossed and stood at least five inches taller than Bidoof. He tried to get the point across to stay away from the cute pikachu, and that she was his- no wait, what was he thinking. She wasn't anyone's. He decided it was because she was her first friend that he was being so protective. That's it. Yeah.

"Oh um hey." the bidoof timidly answered before his eyes went right back to Chupi's chest. "So what can I do for you?"

"Could you give them a tour? I have important things to attend to." Chatot asked.

"Of course. Yup yup right this way-"

"Ah! Wait!" a girl's voice called.

"Hm? What is it Sunflora?"

"Well, Loudred skipped his dinner shift so we need one of the rookies to help us cook." Sunflora explained in a bubbly rush. "Ooh! What am I doing? I'm Sunflora. Nice to meet you." She smiled widely.

"Oh, but I was going to take them on a tour." Bidoof reasoned.

"But I reeeeeaally need one!" Sunflora whined. "Ooh! I'll take you!" Sunflora grabbed Chupi's hand and started skipping towards the kitchen, tugging Chupi along behind her.

"Oh but, she hasn't seen treasure town yet! How about you take Blaze?"

Blaze scoffed. 'He just wants to be alone with Chupi.'

"But me and Chupi haven't had time to girl chat! That's super important you know!" Sunflora countered and bounced down the hall, Chupi in tow.

"Well I guess it's just you and me now." Blaze didn't fail to miss the disappointed tone in Bidoof's voice. But Bidoof continued the tour like a good apprentice. He began explaining things that Blaze already knew; the job boards, the mess hall, the crew rooms. Frankly, it annoyed Blaze to no end and he wished it could be over soon. Finally they ventured outside into the shopping district of Treasure Town.

"Over here you can see-"

"The Duskull Bank, and over there is Kecleon's shop and Electovire's Link shop." Blaze finished. He was growing tired of this. He had lived here his whole life for crying out loud! It was like getting a private tour of your own house. He just wanted to speed things along and hopefully Bidoof could catch a hint and leave him alone so he could do some errands.

"Oh, well you know this place pretty well so I'll just leave you then. I'll be waiting for you next to the job list." Bidoof rushed his words and ran off back to the guild.

"Finally, he's gone." Blaze sighed in relief. Bidoof couldn't get anymore annoying, and listening to him chatter on about things he already knew for the past two hours had really driven his patience. At least now he could get some fresh air and do some shopping.

As he headed over to Kecleon's he noticed Loudred (you know, the one who skipped his kitchen duty.) strolling down the path and caught up to him.

"Hey, what are you doing here? Don't you have to cook with Sunflora today?" Blaze asked.

"Urk, I've been caught." Loudred ruefully responded. "For one thing, I _hate _cooking. And it's even worse with Sunflora..."

"What do you mean?"

"Don't tell her but...she can't cook to save her life. She, she burns _everything_. It doesn't matter what she tries to make, it ends up as a brown crisp. But she won't ever admit it. She keeps trying, and failing. I can't bear to watch the poor girl delude herself." Loudred shook his head.

'Poor Chupi.' Blaze thought back to his partner.

* * *

><p>"Don't these just look scrumpadidily-umptious!" Sunflora beamed, holding up another batch of black kelpsy quiches (although they looked more like little bricks on a pan). Chupi tried her best to smile in affirmation; in order to spare the kind girl's feelings, but her nose was hurting from the burnt smell so the smile was rather weak.<p>

"I'm sure they're delicious." Chupi forced out.

"Sunflora, maybe you should take them out sooner..." the shy chimecho commented. She worked the kitchen everyday and was used to Sunflora's failures, no longer sugar coating her words as much as Chupi did.

"Anyway, so Chupi." Sunflora started before breaking out into giggles. She did this almost every time she said Chupi's name, which was somewhat annoying. Really, even Chatot had the decency not to laugh at it! But what could you do, her name was stupid and there was no changing it. "Hey! How about we give you a nickname!"

"A nickname?" Chupi never thought of that.

"Yeah, something super cute like...Chuchu!"

"How about something else? That's almost as bad as what I already have!" Chupi laughed.

"Nope. It's been decided. You are now and forever Chuchu." Sunflora made a big show of placing her hand on her hip and pointing firmly at the pikachu. "I dub thee Chuchu!" She finished with a flourish.

"Aww, c'mon! There has to be something better than that!" Chupi protested.

"I don't know what you're talking about Chuchu."

"Arrgg. Why do I even try."

"I'm sorry Chupi." Chimecho timidly said.

"No no no! Not Chupi! _Chuchu_." Sunflora corrected.

"Oh, I'm sorry Chuchu." Chimecho repeated.

With that the trio of girls began laughing. It was nice to have some girlfriends to joke around with. When their giggles died down, Sunflora suddenly had a serious look on her face.

"Um, what's up Sunflora?" Chupi dared to ask.

"What's going on between you and Blaze?"

"W-what do you mean? There's nothing! We're partners!" Chupi waved her hands frantically in front of her. She could feel the heat rise to her face and prayed that her red cheeks covered it.

"Are you suuure? I saw the little episode him and Bidoof were having just now." Sunflora waggled her eyebrows suggestively.

"What are you talking about?" Chupi innocently asked.

"Oh my goodness! You didn't notice?" Sunflora squealed in amazement. "Bidoof was _totally _checking you out. Which was really gross, cause he's like icky. But Blaze was all 'Back off', which is soo hot! I mean, he didn't really say it out loud, but the way he staring down Bidoof was more than words can say!"

"Don't be silly Sunflora. He was just introducing himself. He was _not '_checking me out'." Chupi brushed off.

"Um, actually I saw it too." Chimecho piped in after she finished chopping a handful of sitrus berries. "He was kind of looking at you inappropriately." Chimecho blushed hotly.

"Oh mew! Am I the only one who didn't notice?" Chupi brought her hands to her face in shock.

"Yep. Gross isn't it." Sunflora cracked up. "But you're so lucky to have Blaze around...Sigh, now if only I had a Knight to protect my honor."

"Hm? What about Blaze?" Chupi was still running the Bidoof fiasco through her mind and didn't hear her.

"Oh, nothing..." Sunflora decided that keeping his feelings secret would be more fun.

"Aw, c'mon tell me!"

"Nope."

"Chimecho, do you know what's she's talking about?" Chimecho was about to answer, but seeing the pointed look Sunflora was giving her, she quietly backed down and shook her head.

"Oh well." Chupi pouted. "But do you have any 'Knights' in mind?" She at least heard that part.

"Nope, none at all! Hahahaha..." Sunflora looked away unconvincingly and scratched the back of her head.

Chimecho and Chupi gave each other a knowing look before tackling Sunflora down into a chair and holding her arms down.

"Speak!" Chupi ordered.

"Y-yeah!" Chimecho wimpily repeated.

"I'm not telling you anything! I'll never surrender!"

"Oh yea, not even if I do...this!" Chupi began relentlessly tickling the grass type until tears formed in her eyes.

"O-Okay okay! I give!" Chupi stopped. "I don't like him! Not one bit! I'm only...interested."

"Who?" Chimecho

Sunflora gave a quick glance around to make sure that no one could hear their conversation. For all she knew, Wigglytuff could have been hiding on the ceiling all this time and spying on them! (I wouldn't doubt it) But seeing as no one was there, she leaned in close to her friend's ears.

"I think I might like..."Sunflora started before she playfully pushed them down and ran away.

"Hey!"

"Catch me if you can, Chuchu!"

"Don't call me that!"

* * *

><p>After saying goodbye to Loudred, Blaze finally made it to the Kecleon Brother's shop. They had an assortment of berries, seeds, and orbs to use in dungeons in their shop; the entire stock was made to suit the needs of explorer teams. Which is understandable since almost every person in town was in some way connected to the guild.<p>

"Hey there!" Blaze greeted.

"Oh...hey." the purple kecleon responded less than enthusiastically.

"What are _you_ doing here?" his green brother continued.

"Well, I need to buy some things seeing as I'm in an _exploration team_ now." Blaze flaunted.

"Oh I see! Well help yourself, we have all the necessities to guild members right here you know!" the older kecleon brother immediately cheered up.

'What a bunch of two faced- No. I have to be better than them.' Blaze thought. He still couldn't help but feel revolted by the brother's behavior. He had lived here his whole life and they had practically treated him like dirt. But suddenly he joins the guild and they give him some common decency! It was truly disgusting how some people's minds worked. How prejudice they could be. He was still the same, so why treat him any differently than before?

He began scanning the selves for anything that could be of use, and that's when he saw it; a pair of lace up brown boots for girls. Chupi's little sandals were falling apart and in tatters after just a couple of missions in the caves, it wouldn't be long before she would have to go barefoot. They could also be a little 'I'm sorry for last night.' present. They were perfect! He had to have them.

"How much for those boots there?" He asked while fishing out his money.

"A little feminine, don't you think?" the green kecleon teased.

"Just, how much?" Blaze groaned.

"Ah, so they're for a special lady friend are they?" the purple kecleon piled on.

"S-shut up!"

"Ooh, touchy. He must like her!"

"Can I please just buy them?"

"Okay, okay. But you have to promise to bring the lucky girl over next time!" the brothers winked. "That'll be...two hundred dollars."

'That's how much we got for our entire job yesterday...But it's worth it.' Blaze thought and handed over the cash.

"Thanks come again!"

'If they're always like that, then maybe it was best that they never paid attention to me.' but before he could finish that thought, he noticed two little brothers, a marill and a azurill, bounding up to the cash register of kecleon's shop.

"Can we buy some apples?" the older marill brother asked.

"Of course, of course." the green kecleon gleefully answered. Everyone in town knew that their mother was an explorer that had gotten injured. Once again Blaze felt anger rise like bile in the back of his throat at the special treatment explorers had gotten while he was shunned for being a nobody. But he couldn't blame the two marill brothers, it wasn't their fault, so he let it go.

"Thank you misters!" the cute azurill graciously said before the two of them hopped back the way they had come.

"C'mon Azurill, we need to look for that thing we lost."

"Ok Marill." This had piqued Blaze's interest.

"Did you say you had lost something?" Blaze asked the boys.

"Oh yes. We're very worried, we can't find it anywhere." Marill answered for them.

"Well, whatever it is I'm sure if you ask anyone at Wigglytuff's guild they would be happy to help you." Blaze advised.

"What's this I hear about lost items?" A drowzee had walked up to the trio.

"Ah, we lost a family heirloom. It's small and round and blue...Do you know what we're talking about?" Azurill politely asked.

"Ah, I think I've scene it somewhere...Let me take you to where I found it." Drowzee had a dangerous smirk on his face that gave Blaze the shivers. But he ignored it, you never know if that's just how his face looked naturally so it was wrong to assume otherwise.

"Really? Oh thank you mister!" Azurill elatedly said. "Bye Blaze!" And the two brothers began following Drowzee down the path until they were out of sight.

* * *

><p>"Oof! This basket is so big!" Chupi complained as she tried to get a grip on the oversized cumbersome basket. Sunflora had wasted the last of the leppa berries on her custard. (Which also somehow ended up burnt, she still wasn't sure how Sunflora had managed that.) So Chupi was sent to go get more supplies for tonight's dinner. She was excited about going to the market for the first time. Maybe she'll even see Blaze there! Right as she got to the bottom of the stairs that lead into Treasure Town (she had been given a quick description of where to go) she noticed two adorable marill and azurill brothers trotting down the path with...a mean old Drowzee? Oh well, she shouldn't judge. But as she turned to go down the path the smaller azurill ran into her basket and tripped, dropping an apple in the process.<p>

"Oh, I'm so sorry! Are you alright?" Chupi bent down to pick up the apple for the little boy.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Azurill chirped. But when Chupi made to hand the apple to him she suddenly felt woozy.

"Um, are you all right miss?" Marill asked her while patting her shoulder. Time seemed to rip out of place and all she could hear was a little boy calling for help. But it was over before it began, and she tried to regain her senses.

"Um, did you call for help?" She asked Azurill while holding her head in pain.

"No? Why?"

"No reason." No way. She was not going crazy. She refused to believe it. First she thinks she's a human, now she's hearing voices. Yep, she was just going to ignore that.

"Hey, what's happening here?" the grouchy drowzee demanded, shoving Chupi's shoulder. And it happened again. She felt like she was going to be sick and the blood in her head was throbbing against her temples. Everything went black momentarily, but then she could see an image. It seemed like it was in the mountains, but the key thing she saw was Drowzee looming over Azurill as he cried for help. Then like someone had turned off the TV, she came back to reality. She bolted up and stomped her way up to Drowzee.

"Hey! What are you planning to do to these kids?" she accused. Okay, maybe this wasn't her best judgment. She was just imaging some weird scenario and now she was implying this poor guy was bad? What is with her? But she had a gut feeling about this.

And that feeling only grew when he gave her a sinister grin.

He grabbed her ruthlessly by her hair and forced her to her knees before tilting down to meet her eyes as he jerked her chin up with his jagged claw. She could feel tears prick her eyes from the pain he was afflicting, but refused to cry in front of anyone and held them back. The brothers cuddled each other in fear of the sudden personality change.

"I don't know how you figured out my plan, but you won't get in my way." His skanky breath blew on her face with every word. Okay, maybe she was right in judging him. She scrunched her eyes tight and released a thundershock, but unfortunately with how close the brothers were, a few stray sparks zapped them too, so she quickly stopped.

"Oh, so you can attack huh? You might be of some use..." She averted her eyes from his hot gaze to the ground, which she now noticed had some char marks from her attack. This gave her an idea. She began zapping away again, but this time further away next to her dropped basket. Slowly the marks began to resemble a 'D' and she had to stop because she was getting tired.

"You can't zap me _and_ avoid hitting the brats," he said, misinterpreting why she used her thundershock again. "But it looks pretty powerful so you're coming with us. You're going to fight for me through Mt. Bristle's dungeon." He gave her hair another tug. "Unless you want to see these defenseless kids get hurt that is?" Said kids coward away.

Chupi pretended to be holding her head in pain (which all his pulling was giving her a migraine), but was really slipping her red ribbon off her ear. She then, as discretely as possible, tied it to her explorer badge and tossed it next to the basket and char mark. She looked Drowzee dead in the eyes and gave him her fiercest glare.

"You're despicable." she spat. Who threatens children?

"I try." he murmured back in a low voice and pushed her face into the ground. As she got up he grabbed her wrist tightly and kicked the brothers forward.

'Please get my note Blaze. Please.' She thought as she glanced back to the basket. She turned her attention back to the poor brothers, who already had tears streaming down their faces.

'Please save me.'

**Okey dokey! That was it (for now ;D). I do hope you enjoyed that, and if any of y'all reeeally liked the twist, you would review! Hint hint. I'm super excited about this boss; he was one of my favorites. I plan that with each boss Chupi or Blaze will be able to overcome any emotional barriers they have and improve over time.**

**I finally learned how to put in page breaks!**

**Chalala-chan**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey there everypony! Haha couldn't resist. Glad to see ya! I'm so sad, no one ever reviews me... Except for you Jayvee 1669! You're pretty cool and I'm sorry I couldn't reply. And all you other readers who are nice enough to review are awesome! But pretty much anyone that reads my story is a cool cat. But here's Chapter 6, read away!**

**Disclaimer: Pokemon may not be mine, but that won't stop me from trying gosh darn it!**

**Warning: Drowzee is a little violent.**

**Team Light: Chasing Away the Darkness**

**Chapter 6**

RECAP! Chupi has been forced to go with the dastardly villain Drowzee when he threatened to hurt the marill brothers if she didn't. But she left a clue for her partner to find. Blaze was last seen blissfully unaware of her pikanapping and is still shopping around Treasure Town. And that's pretty much it.

Chupi fell to her knees on the hard rock floor of Mt. Bristle. She was forced to fight her way through the dungeon, battling pokemon after pokemon until she had practically no PP left to even manage a growl attack. That's how pathetic she felt. Soon she would be forced to resort to tackle to save her energy.

'This is so hard without Blaze here.' Chupi thought as she doubled over in exhaustion. 'I never realized how much he looks out for me.' She was surprised she had even made it this long seeing as their were so many geodudes that were immune to her electric attacks and weren't damaged easily by tackle.

"Hey, get up! You're not done yet!" the grumpy drowzee yelled and kicked her hard in the side. The force of it sent her rolling on the rock-strewn ground. Her hands held the bottom of her ribs in agony and she began coughing violently. Her arms were covered in little red welts from scraping against the rocks below her and they stung bitterly. But Drowzee didn't stop. No, he reached down and grabbed her by the hair again, jerkily pulling her up to her feet and giving an extra tug for the added effect.

"I said to get up bitch." Drowzee growled to her face. She could feel the back of her eyes sting, but she'd be damned if she let this creep win and see her cry. No one sees her cry. No one. But his fierce snarl turned into a smug smirk when he saw her wobbly knees and trembling fist. He pushed her back forward to continue, and glared the little brothers into moving after her.

'I have to find a way to get these kids out of here.' She thought quickly. She grew silent as she began formulating a plan when suddenly it came to her. She felt a little stupid when she realized how obvious it was, but it would work now better anyway. Drowzee had been keeping a close watch on his captives, in case they tried something funny, even making sure that the brothers stayed glued to his side so she wouldn't attack. But now that he saw that she was probably too tired to fight, he had let his guard down and the brothers lagged a little behind him. This was her opportunity.

"Thunder wave!" she screeched and zapped the old drowzee into submission. "Run!" The brothers quickly got the idea and bolted for an exit, any exit. Without her badge though, Chupi couldn't just transport them all out of the dungeon like she normally could and they would have to try to find the stairway out. The little azurill couldn't run fast enough so Chupi scooped him up and sprinted through the pathway with Marill in front of her. Unfortunately, since the dungeons always change shape, they were lost and confused as to which direction to take, only praying that they didn't run back to their captor.

But everything seemed to stop. Time stopped. Her breathing stopped. Her limbs stopped.

She couldn't move.

"That wasn't a very smart move, bitch." Chupi didn't have to think twice to recognize the voice. Her heart stopped.

Drowzee had used psychic to suspend Chupi and the azurill in her arms. She could see Marill a little ways ahead of her panicking on whether to stay or go.

"Just run Marill! Go get help!" Chupi squeezed the noise through her tight throat. "Go get Blaze!" she pleaded.

"Run brother!" Azurill cried. Marill gave one last grieved look behind his shoulder and ran back through the path and out of sight.

"Oh well." Drowzee passively said. "The plan will still work with one." He twitched his claw in a coming gesture and Chupi felt herself unwillingly floating back to him.

"I'm sorry Azurill." Chupi comforted. "At least Marill got away. He'll get help. Everything will be all right." She hugged the crying boy tighter into her chest.

'Blaze will come.'

* * *

><p>Blaze meanwhile had just gotten finished with everything in treasure town. He put all unnecessary items in Kangaskhan's storage (Mama Kangaskhan even wrapped Chupi's present for him.) He deposited all their money to the Duskull Bank, and was now taking a pleasant stroll back to the guild to see how Chupi was doing with dinner. He laughed at the thought of her covered in a big floury mess. He thought of her making his favorite cheri berry cookies and he licked his lips. Then he thought of her offering those cookies to Bidoof and his eyebrows twitched in annoyance. He began rushing towards the guild.<p>

Then he saw a glimmer on the ground and a couple people standing around it. He recognized the people to be Corphish and Croagunk and trotted up to them.

"What are you looking at?" Blaze asked.

"Hey hey hey there Blaze!" Corphish said nervously. "Oh it's nothing really..."

"Doesn't sound like nothing." Blaze said skeptical. "What are these strange black marks on the ground? I don't remember these."

"I'm not too sure Blaze. We were trying to figure that out ourselves."

"It looks like char marks from an electric attack..."Croagunk mumbled.

"Huh, what? What makes you say that?" Blaze was confused. That, and he had never heard Croagunk talk so much. Now that he thinks about it, has he ever heard him talk? Oh well.

"I used to live near a Raichu village...They would leave marks like this when they discharged access energy."

"But the only electric type around here is...Chupi."

"And these don't seem to be the usual markings... This is a pattern. Normally it's just a large black dot, this one looks weird..." Croagunk was proving himself to be quite informed in these matters.

"Oh?" Corphish interrupted. "Let's try to see what it is! I think it's...uh, uh an unfinished smiley face! See? It's just missing the eyes."

"...Maybe it's a space symbol." Croagunk guessed.

"I just see the letter 'D'." Blaze concluded with a sigh. "Hey, let's ask Chupi! I bet she did this."

"Uh, Blaze, we've been meaning to tell you..."Corphish trailed off. "It's about Chupi."

"What about her?" Blaze's tone turned serious.

"Well, we..."

"What?"

"We found this." Croagunk said, holding up a little explorer badge with a red ribbon tied around it and a large basket. The pendent was still shiny from being new and the nametag that clearly read 'Chupi' sparkled in the sunlight.

Blaze's blood ran cold.

"W-why would she leave this out here?" Blaze eyes were wide and he fought the need to hyperventilate. Did she leave him? Was she so upset with him last night that she ran away? Where is she? He needed to find her _right now._ Oh, mew where is she? He snatched her badge out of Croagunk's hand and flew up the stairs, taking four, five at a time. Throwing the door open in his wake, he stormed the guild. He searched every room, overturned all the beds. Hell, he even checked the guildmaster's office to be sure. With one last hope, with one last room left unsearched he stumbled into the kitchen. She wasn't there. She wasn't anywhere. He sank to his knees and felt like giving a sob, like crying, like breaking down into a ball of depression_._ But he was too devastated for words, for actions, for anything.

He felt nothing.

Nothing but his heart breaking.

She was his first friend, his best friend. How could she leave him?

"Hey there Blaze! I got you some missions to chose from, I sure do yup yup." Bidoof jogged up to him, jiggling with every step.

"Not. Now." Blaze growled between clenched teeth. He was seriously not in the mood for his annoying crap.

"Okay okay! I'll just set these down here then..." Bidoof immediately backed off and slid a stack of mission papers to Blaze's feet so they were in Blaze's eyesight. Blaze knew he should have felt guilty. It wasn't the doofus's fault that he was abandoned. He just felt like taking it out on him. Standing up he picked up the stack of jobs that Bidoof had left and turned to find someone to take them from him. Although it was tempting to take out his feelings on some dungeon pokemon, he knew he would be alone now and couldn't bear the thought of doing a mission without his little blonde partner. As he looked to find Bidoof again the top paper in his hand caught his eye.

It was that Drowzee from before.

The one who slunk off with two little, defenseless boys.

Drowzee was a class C criminal.

For the second time that day Blaze felt his heart drop and break. He could have stopped this. He could have _stopped _this. But he didn't. Sure, he didn't know, but he felt guilt never the less. He dropped all the papers and dashed for the ladder to lead him outside. For now he would have to put aside his personal problems and try to save the boys. Sunflora and Loudred (who was currently getting scolded for skipping out on kitchen duties) were almost knocked down when he rushed by them, but he paid them no matter.

"H-hey? What's the rush Blaze?" Sunflora called out.

"WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING PAL!" Loudred screeched back in anger.

"C'mon Loudred let's follow him." Sunflora grabbed Loudred's arm and chased after him.

"W-wait, SUNFLORA!" Loudred yelled.

Blaze leaped down the steps to the crossroads and reeled to a halt. He suddenly realized he had no clue where to go and looked at his shoes in bitter resentment. But he heard a faint noise from a distance and looked up.

There was Marill running up to him.

Blaze joyously picked him up and gave him a hug.

"How'd you get here? Where were you? Where's Drowzee? Where's-" Blaze looked down at Marill's remorseful face that was brimming with tears. "...Where's your brother?" The floodgate broke and Marill was swimming in tears.

"H-he's still with the bad man! C-Chupi helped me get away and-"

"Wait, Chupi?" Blaze interrupted.

"Yea...She was kidnapped too. She risked her life trying to help us, but she and Azurill got captured again and they told me to find you and I left them, I left them! I'm so sorry!" Marill rushed out before sobbing into Blaze's jacket. It seemed so obvious now. Chupi would never up and leave him. She had left him a clue and he was too stupid to put it together. The 'D' she made on the ground stood for Drowzee, and she left her badge and ribbon so it would be noticed. He silently chastised himself for doubting her.

"Hey there you are Blaze, why were you- oh my! What happened?" Sunflora halted her steps.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO THAT KID?" Loudred accused.

"Don't worry. I'll get your brother back." Blaze whispered to him. "Take him and see if he has any injuries." Blaze directed to Sunflora before hastily pushing Marill into her arms and racing to Mt. Bristle.

"HEY! WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?" Loudred called after him.

"I have to save my partner! I have to save Chupi!"

* * *

><p>"C-Chupi?" Azurill sniffled.<p>

"Yeah?"

"That's a silly name."

"Oh gee, thanks. You know, I have a nickname."

"What is it?"

"Chuchu." She grinned.

"Hahaha! That's even sillier!" Azurill laughed in her arms. She would normally have corrected him and hit him over the head, but she finally had gotten him to smile and laugh after an hour of crying so she didn't want to ruin it. She didn't want to admit it, but she was very very _very_ uncomfortable and tired.

After Drowzee had captured them again, he promptly gave them a beating to remember. Azurill got off lightly, seeing as Drowzee needed him for _some_ reason, but had still sprained his ankle. Chupi bandaged it up with her only medical supplies she had in her pack, leaving nothing for herself. Drowzee refused to carry Azurill even though he couldn't walk so Chupi had to. It was getting increasingly difficult to pick up and put down the tiny boy in between battles. Especially since her hands were tied.

Yep. Drowzee, that arrogant bastard, had used Chupi's own exploration rope to tie her hands together (a smidgeon too tightly she might add) and used the left over rope to tie her to his belt.

"Can't I at least have my arms free?" Chupi whined. "It's very hard to fight when my hands are bound, you know."

She didn't know what pissed her off more; her ribs that were screaming in pain with every step she took or the fact that he had her tied on a leash like a dog. She would probably have to go with her ribs.

"Shut up!" Drowzee pulled on the rope, tugging the small pikachu to the ground. With her hands bound together she had nothing to break her fall, and tried her best to avoid any more injury to the passenger on her back. She cursed under her breath when she felt the pain bloom again all over her chest. She takes that back, Drowzee was pissing her off a lot more than any physical pain could.

"Hurry up. Here comes another starly." Drowzee growled. Chupi rolled to her knees and let Azumarill scramble out of her hold. She got up to her feet, wavering only a moment, and braced herself for battle.

'Blaze, where are you?' She thought as she tackled the poor starly to the ground. She only had a few electric type attacks left in her and was saving them for a certain pig headed criminal she was currently tied to. She thought maybe if she tackled hard enough, Drowzee would be pulled down with her. But he had to be at least three times her weight so she couldn't do that even if she was at full strength.

She groaned in frustration when she had beaten the starly to unconsciousness in a matter of seconds. She hated feeling powerless. There was nothing she could do to get Azurill and her out of this mess on her own. At this point she could only pray that someone would come to her rescue. But she wasn't a princess waiting in some tower. She was just some runt that somebody decided to kidnap on a last minute whimsy. She wasn't even his main target! The brothers were.

It was at that moment she felt so useless and small. No one would miss her if she was gone.

But Drowzee snapped her out of her depressing thoughts when he announced to the group:

"We're here."

They had finally made it to the very top of the dungeon. It was a small rocky clearing with no one and nothing in sight. There was nothing! _Nothing. _Chupi was now officially pissed off. He kidnaps them, beats them, forces them up a mountain, and made a couple of poor kids cry. And for what? An empty clearing?

"Get over here brat." Drowzee then ripped Azurill of Chupi's back and tossed him not too kindly towards the very back wall. Chupi was forced to follow because she was tied to the jerk. Upon closer inspection she saw a tiny crack in the wall, just enough that she would be able to squeeze in.

"I've heard there's treasure beyond imagination hidden in that hole, but I can't fit. That's where you come in," he glared at Azurill. "You need to get in there and carry out the treasure for me." He shoved him forward and Azurill started to panic.

"No! Please! I'm afraid of the dark! Please no!" Azurill pleaded as he set his feet against the wall to resist being pushed into the hole.

"I. Don't. CARE." Drowzee snapped.

"HELP!" Azurill begged.

"Stop!" Chupi cried out. That was strange. This was just like that daydream she had when she met Drowzee. "I can probably fit. Let me go instead." She begged.

"...Fine. But if you're not out in ten minutes, the kid gets it." Drowzee cut her rope keeping her tied to him but didn't undo the one around her hands.

"Um, I think you're forgetting something." She gestured to her still bound hands.

"Nope. That doesn't come off till I see some gold. Now get in there."

She carefully, or as carefully as anyone could with no hands, positioned herself to slip into the crack.

**Yay! I had written all of this out, but realized it was about 7000 words (sorry not quite over 9000). So I decided to cut it in half for now and post the rest as next chapter. Which I already have written up. So if y'all are super nice to me and give me just one little review, I'll post the next chapter tomorrow. (haha Blackmail!) But if not, I'll still post it next Sunday like promised. It's just whether or not it comes early.**

**Most of the next chapter is pointless fluff. Yay fluff!**

**Chalala-chan**


	7. Chapter 7

**Yay! People reviewed! It was Jayvee1669 again! You rock and you absolutely made my day. Much loves for you! I'm sorry your lvl 100 Shaymin doesn't kick Drowzee's ass but he'll get what's coming to him. But because of you everyone gets another chapter early. Huzzah!**

**Thanks go to everyone who reviewed. I really appreciate it. It also helps me be a better writer and clear any confusion you might have. (And boost my ego!)**

**Disclaimer: It's probably for the best that I don't own Pokemon.**

**Warning: Tons of fluff ahead. I apologize. It had to be done.**

**Team Light: Chasing Away the Darkness**

**Chapter 7**

"Get out of my WAY!" Blaze unleashed a mass of flames upon all his nearest victims. Those who weren't hit fled, and those stupid enough to stay faced an onslaught of scratch attacks. He kicked, punched, and flamethrowed anyone who was unfortunate enough to be in a five meter radius of the charmander. He ran by any items he saw and would only dive for the next staircase. Every pokemon he saw could have been one that Chupi fought an hour before. Every pokemon could have been one that hurt Chupi.

Blaze showed no mercy.

He viciously fought his way through the dungeon; so high off of adrenaline that he barely noticed any scraps or cuts he received from bumping against the rough walls in his mad rush. He sprinted the entire way up. He had never run this fast, or for this long, in his entire life but that didn't matter because he only had one thing on his mind: Chupi.

The charmander bound up the last set of stairs. He reached the peak of the mountain to see Azurill and-

"CHUPI!" he yelled in relief.

"Blaze!" She stopped what she was doing and turned around to see her partner standing at the top of the stairs. She felt tears well up in her eyes but she blinked them away. Azurill though couldn't help himself and began crying with happiness.

His eyes went wide when he really saw them. Azurill's leg was wrapped up in bandages from some injury, but Chupi looked a lot worse. Her hands were tied together with rope, and her hair heavily disheveled covered in dirt. Her dress had a couple of holes in them and clearly marked on the white cloth were...shoe marks? His relief turned to anger and he could practically feel the fire flowing within him just itching to come out and kill whoever did this to her.

It was then that he saw Drowzee, which is hard to believe he missed him because he was so huge. Drowzee simply glared at the cause of the disruption. Which Blaze responded with an equally terrifying scowl that would make most normal pokemon flinch in fear. But no. I guess Drowzee is just too thick headed to feel fear, cause he began to laugh.

_"_This is the pokemon that's supposed to save you? Haha what a joke_-"_

But Blaze cut him off when he gave him a swift punch to the gut that made him double over. Blaze ran over to where Chupi was kneeling and quickly undid the rope around her hands. He was about to hug her when a clawed hand grabbed his shoulder and wrenched him around before he was suckered in the jaw. Azurill crawled away to a safe distance, knowing there was a fight to be had. Blaze wiped the trickle of blood that had slid from the corner of his mouth and glanced over to Chupi who was rubbing her chafed, rope burned wrist. She nodded in confirmation.

"Let's kick his ass."

In that moment, the two let out all the pent up aggression that they had towards the psychic type. Chupi unleashed her final couple of thunderbolts before paralyzing him with one last thunderwave. Blaze then finished up the job with a flamethrower and a stream of scratches. Drowzee didn't even have a chance. Blaze got out his badge and called the Magnezone Police Department to pick up the criminal while Chupi settled down Azurill for a much-needed nap. Blaze sat down next to Chupi as she swept a stray hair away from the sleeping boy's face.

"Chupi." Blaze murmured to the girl. When she turned to look up at her partner she was greeted with the biggest, most bone crushing hug.

And it hurt like hell.

"Owowowow!" Chupi whined while she swatted at Blaze. "That hurts!" He immediately stopped and leaped away from her.

"I-I'm sorry! I was just so happy to see you that I- What do you mean 'It hurts'?"

"Ah, um, Drowzee kinda kicked me, so my ribs really hurt." She looked away. Blaze glowered at Drowzee's unconscious form before turning his attention back to Chupi.

"Let me see."

"What?" She blushed.

"They could be broken, just let me see." His cheeks went red as well.

"...Fine." She said defeatedly. She was too tired to fight.

He carefully lowered her to the ground so she was lying down. He hiked up her dress from the side, being careful not to show any more than what was necessary, and as gently as he could he ran his fingers over the skin. He felt her shiver under his touch and squirm a little on the ground, but continued his examination. He prodded around a bit before smoothing her clothes back down.

"Well?"

"I think they're only bruised, not broken." He concluded. "They should be fine in a couple of days, but it's best you don't move around too much."

"Well, look at you Dr. Blaze. When did you become so medically smart?" Chupi teased.

"I lived by myself, so I had to."

"Oh." They grew silent. "Was it hard?"

"Hmm? Not really. It's better now that you're here." He grinned at her and she could feel the warmth on her cheeks. "...I thought you left me." Blaze downcast his eyes.

"What? I would never leave you!" Chupi said shocked. "Why would you think that?"

"Well, when I saw your badge in the middle of the street...and we fought last night. It kind of went together."

"I left you a clear note!"

"Clear? You left your badge and some char mark that I couldn't make out! What do you mean_ clear_?"

"I guess it wasn't as clear as I hoped it would be. It made sense to me at the time. Oops, haha." Chupi laughed it off. "You know, I already forgave you for the fight."

"What? When?" Blaze questioned.

"A couple minutes after we had it, I suppose."

"Seriously! I spent all day looking for a present to make it up to you!" Blaze sighed exasperatedly.

"A present? What is it? What is it?" Chupi hopped in her spot.

"Nope. It's a secret."

"Awww. But I like presents." She pouted.

"Most people do. So I'll give you this for now." Blaze reached into his pocket and pulled out Chupi's badge and ribbon. "Here ya go!" He smiled.

"That doesn't count! Those were mine to began with." She laughed but accepted it anyway; tossing her badge into her sack and trying to put the ribbon back on. She hissed as she felt her ribs move when she lifted her arms and quickly dropped them back down to her lap. He laughed under his breath and took the ribbon from her before tying it to her ear like he always did.

"There. You look better with it on."

"Ugh, don't remind me. I probably look like a mess right now." She groaned and tried smoothing out her hair. "It wouldn't be this bad if the stupid jerk hadn't grabbed my hair so much..." she grumbled. Blaze once again glared at the criminal's sleeping body and felt the need to beat him up all over again.

"Hey, Chupi? How did he kidnap you?" Blaze carefully asked.

"...It was weird, Blaze. Promise not to freak out?"

He nodded.

She proceeded to tell him about how she ran into the brothers with Drowzee, and how she suddenly felt faint. How she had somehow saw into the future that Azurill was being threatened by him and calling out for help. And when she saw through Drowzee's plan and accused him, he attacked her and blackmailed her into coming with them so she would have to fight all the dungeon pokemon for him. But she was still confused about the vision she had.

"Well, you're already a human turned pokemon, so this doesn't seem very surprising." Blaze concluded. "But these dreams you're having must be connected to you personally."

"Of course. Cause I just can't be normal apparently." Chupi sighed.

"Maybe this could be the key to unlocking your memories!" Blaze tried to cheer up his partner.

"You really think so?"

"Sure. Why not? You know, this new power could be helpful. With time out of wack and all these new bad guys around we need as much help as we can get."

"I've been meaning to ask; what do you mean 'time is out of wack'?"

"You don't know?" Blaze said shocked. Chupi raised an eyebrow. "Oh right, no memories. Well there's these time gears right? They're everywhere; forest, volcanoes, caves, you name it. But if they were taken, time would stop. Not even the worst criminals go near the time gears. If all of the gears were stolen...who knows what would happen."

"And people are stealing them?"

"Yeah."

"That's terrible!"

"Well, let's just ignore it for now and think about it later. I think I can hear sirens."

Just then the Magnezone Police Force had crested over the top of the stairs to meet up with Team Light and apprehend Drowzee.

"Thank you for your service. Expect payment for your capture back at the guild." Magnezone robotically said. He zapped Drowzee into consciousness and formed an electric field around him so he wouldn't escape. "Now come along Drowzee. Jail is waiting for you." Drowzee began solemnly walking behind him but gave a menacing look behind his shoulder.

"I won't forget this, bitch."

"What did you call her?" Blaze jumped to his feet, holding up his fist, but stopped when he felt Chupi's little hand on his arm.

"It's okay. It's over now. He can call me whatever he likes, but we won. Okay?" Chupi soothed and Blaze's tense shoulders slumped.

"...Okay. But only this time. If anyone ever calls you that name, I'll be sure to kick their-"

"What are you talking about?" Azurill mumbled in a half-sleep state.

"Oh nothing. Drowzee's gone now. He won't ever bother you again." Chupi told the boy.

"Really?"

"Yeah, now let's transport out of here and meet your brother. He's at the guild." Blaze instructed. They huddled together and pressed a button on Blaze's badge that sent them directly to the front of the guild. Surprisingly everyone was waiting for them there! The entire guild was parked outside the doors in anticipation after what Marill had told them had gone down in Mt. Bristle.

"HEY! THEY'RE HERE! THEY'RE ALRIGHT!" Loudred announced. Everyone started crowding around the three asking questions when Sunflora grabbed Chupi's arm.

"Okay, okay, there's nothing to see here! Move along!" Sunflora demanded. "Chuchu here needs to get cleaned up before anyone asks another question! C'mon Chimecho, you come too." Chimecho started following them.

"Ah, wait!" Chupi stopped. "Can someone take Azurill to the infirmary? He sprained his ankle."

"Hey hey hey! I'll take him! He can see Marill there." Corphish volunteered. "Azurill, come with me to see your brother."

"Okay!" Azurill hopped on his back, too excited about his brother to care about his ankle injury, and left everyone staring after them.

"...Did Sunflora call her 'Chuchu'?" Blaze broke the silence.

Sunflora whisked Chupi to her room and to the back communal bathroom for a shower. Realizing her bruised ribs were too sore for her to lift her arms, the two girls helped her wash her hair and de-dirtafy her face. All the while the shy pikachu held a towel around herself for modesty.

"You poor thing. Just look at yourself. You're clothes are torn to shreds!" Chimecho cooed as she shampooed her scalp.

"Do you have any other clothes?" Sunflora asked. "I could go grab them from your room."

"Nope, that's all I have." Chupi sighed dejectedly. "And I can't afford any new ones."

"Why didn't you say so? You can totally have some of mine!" Sunflora gleefully said as she used the shower nozzle to clear the soap out.

"Does this mean..." Chimecho started conditioning her blonde locks.

"Yep. Makeover time!" Sunflora cheered. "Ooh! This is going to be so much fun! I can do your nails, and Chimecho can give you a facial!"

"There's no need for that. But you'll really give me clothes? Thanks." Chupi graciously said.

"Of course we will! It's been so long since we've had another girl in the house. It's just been us two since like, forever!" Sunflora then went on a rant about all the great things they were going to do to her to make her look as fabulous as possible, but Chupi tuned her out like always. The pair left her to clean the rest of herself after they had finished with her hair. As she scrubbed the filth away she became quiet in her thoughts. What if Blaze never showed up? What would Drowzee have done after he got what he wanted? She doubted he would have just let them walk away. What if Blaze had gotten hurt on his way to rescue her? She would never forgive herself if something happened to him because of her. This wouldn't have happened if she was stronger. She almost cried but stopped herself when she heard a knock on the door.

"Hey, you've been in there a while. You okay?" She heard Chimecho's bell like tone through the door. Chupi forced herself to act calm.

"I'm fine. I'll be out in a minute!" She answered.

"Well hurry up! I'm dying to play dress up with you!" Sunflora called out.

"Okay I'm done. Keep your pants on."

"What do ya mean 300 dollars?" Blaze yelled to Chatot.

"Well, you received 3000 for the job, but you know that you only get a portion-"

"But Chupi risked her life! She was kidnapped! Don't you think that accounts for _something_?"

"Nope. Rules are rules. Now go get ready for dinner."

Blaze groaned but walked to the bathroom for a shower anyway. He quickly went through his routine and stepped out for some clean clothes. It wasn't even until he was dressing did he notice all the cuts on his arms. He decided to just throw on a jacket and cover them up. As he walked back outside he noticed the girls coming out of Sunflora's room.

Warning: A bunch of stupid, poorly executed imagery of clothing is ahead. Proceed with caution.

After forty minutes of Sunflora's and Chimecho's primping they had finally deemed Chupi presentable. They had given her one of Sunflora's outfits that she had bought years ago but could never fit into, which worked to Chupi's advantage because she was so tiny that any of Sunflora's other clothes would be too big for her. They gave her a one-piece jumper with a thick brown belt around her waist. The top portion was strapless with a sweetheart neckline and bottom ended with shorts that weren't too inappropriate but showed off her legs nicely. Sunflora called it 'super cute explorer chic'.

"Oh, hey Blaze." Chupi greeted while looking away embarrassed.

"Hey Chupi!" He walked over to join her.

"So Blaze," Sunflora giggled behind her hand. "What do you think of Chupi's look?" Chimecho nodded in agreement.

"Oh, uh, i-it looks..."

"Yesss?" Sunflora dragged out. Chupi shot her a look that said 'I'm so gonna kill you later'.

"You look good." He directed at the pikachu.

"Thanks." Chupi blushed. She didn't have to turn around to know that Sunflora and Chimecho were gushing behind their backs. They headed off to dinner without any more embarrassing questions asked, thankfully, and the pair sat down at the end of the table to enjoy dinner. At first sight of the mini bluk berry pie Chupi snatched it up and stuffed it in her mouth. She hadn't eaten all day and almost forgot what food taste like.

"Whoa, slow down Chupi. You don't want to choke." Blaze advised in between mouthfuls of cheri berry cookies.

"Look who's talking. Mmm these are so good Chimecho!" Chupi knew better by now than to think Sunflora made them.

"Thank you. Your cheri cookies are tasty as well." Chimecho complimented.

"You made these?" Blaze asked referencing to the food in his hands.

"Yep!" Chupi nodded.

"These are delicious!" Blaze then grabbed the entire tray of them and dumped them onto his plate.

"Hey! I wanted one of Chupi's cookies!" Bidoof complained.

"Too bad. All Chupi's cookies are mine." Blaze smugly stated. It was just like he imagined; Chupi making his favorite cookies while the dimwit Bidoof can only watch as he eats them all. Dreams really do come true. He doesn't really know why he dislikes Bidoof so much. Maybe it's because he looked at Chupi wrongly, maybe it's because they got off on the wrong foot, but either way he was taking pleasure out of tormenting him.

"Hey Sunflora, what did you make?" Chupi innocently asked. Immediately everyone turned to her shaking their heads 'no' but it was too late. Chupi cursed herself. She should have known better.

"Hmm? It's the aspear crisps down there." Oh, they were _crisp_ all right. "But no one has taken any. Don't y'all want one?" Sunflora, probably for the first time in her life, looked slightly sad. Don't get me wrong, she was still smiling but her voice sounded rejected. Everyone gave a nervous glance around the table, not really knowing what to do. No one wanted to eat one, but they didn't want to hurt her feelings either. Everyone stopped though when a loud slam echoed through the room.

"I WANT ONE!" Loudred yelled; his hands had pounded the wooden table as he scooted his chair back to stand up. "GIVE ME THAT PLATTER!" Someone fumbled with the tray of...crisps and handed them to Loudred. He tilted his head back and shoveled every last one down his throat without even chewing. He did one large gulp before turning to Sunflora and smiling.

"YEP. THOSE WERE GREAT! THAT HIT THE SPOT!" He did a thumbs up to her and she brightened up. But when she looked away he grabbed his drink and chugged it down, gasping for breath as he nearly choked on Sunflora's concoction. Chimecho smiled knowingly between the two and gave a little giggle to herself.

Soon dinner was over and everyone began retreating back to their rooms to go to sleep, including our favorite duo. But Sunflora called Blaze back to 'talk about something' so he told Chupi to head to their room while they talk. Chupi shrugged it off as Sunflora being weird and meddlesome and trotted off to bed.

Sunflora leaned up to whisper in Blaze's ear, which was very hard to hear since she was laughing between every word, but he got the gist of it.

"You want me to WHAT?" Blaze said astonished.

"Ssh! Do you want the whole guild to hear? Me and Chimecho forgot to do it, so you have to." Sunflora finished. She pushed what she was holding into Blaze's hand and skipped off with a giggle. Oh well, girl's were weird he concluded and decided to go back to his room and go to sleep. But when he walked into the room he saw Chupi curled up in the corner of her bed. Her back was to him, but he could hear the telltale sniffles emanating from the girl.

"Chupi?" His eyes went wide and he was at her side in a second. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"

Chupi didn't really know how it happened. One moment she was walking down the hall, the next she was crying on her bed. She guessed all the stress of the day's events finally got to her and she couldn't hold back anymore.

"B-Blaze? Ah, don't look at me. Just pretend you saw nothing." Chupi turned her head away so her tears were out of view. She hated crying. But the one thing she hated more was crying in front of people. She felt pathetic and vulnerable, so if she could help it she would bottle everything inside her. But of course Blaze had to walk in on one of her episodes. Wasn't he supposed to be talking to Sunflora?

"No." Blaze grabbed her shoulders to force her to look at him through her watery eyes. "What's wrong? Did something happen?" Not once had he seen her cry. Not since the day he first met her, and even then she held herself together. Despite all the confusion and turmoil she had been going through over being turned into a pokemon and losing her memory she always kept a smile on her face. So seeing this side of her concerned him.

"It's nothing. Don't worry about it." He could feel her body shaking in his hands.

"No, it's not. I'm your partner." He smiled. "You can trust me with anything." He brushed away a stray strand of hair from her face and she leaned into his hand.

"It's just that I was thinking. What if you never came? When I was kidnapped." She closed her eyes and whimpered. "What if you got hurt trying to save me? I was so scared."

"That's a risk I'm willing to take. I'll always be there to protect you."

"Promise?"

"Promise." He took this chance to wrap his arms around her waist and hold her tightly. She buried her face into his shoulder and sobbed out the rest of her tears until none were left.

"You don't have to hold back your tears anymore. I'm here. It's okay to show this side with me." He comforted as he rubbed soothing circles on her back. After a moment's pause Chupi finally whispered back:

"...I know."

And with that they fell asleep just like they were: in each other's arms.

**Tada! Sorry about the uber fluff at the end. I was blushing just from writing it! I wanted this chapter to be a bit lower key than the last two because they were more dramatic. I need balance. Sorry about the Drowzee fight scene being so short. I wish it was longer but I just wanted to be done with it (and I suck at fight scenes), and I already dragged this boss out a chapter more than I meant to. Oh well.**

**Chalala-chan**


	8. Chapter 8

**Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry! I know I said I would update regularly, but there was a funeral and I visited colleges then my computer broke and fanfiction wouldn't let me log in... I hope you will forgive me. At least just this once, pleeeease?**

**Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon...**

**Team Light: Chasing Away the Darkness**

**Chapter 8**

"Noo, it can't be morning already." Blaze, the usually early riser, groaned as he tried to block out the sun's rays and turn over. But he was stopped when he felt something, or rather some_one_, underneath his arm. His eyes flew open and he tilted his head down slightly to see Chupi's blonde head against his chest. He calmed down when he realized who it was. He could feel her slow, even breath blossoming on his skin; warm against the chilly morning air. He had never felt more at peace than he did at that moment, and wished it would last forever. But things seldom do, and he knew Loudred would be here any moment and would most likely make a big deal about their situation.

"Hey, Chupi. It's time to wake up." He whispered and stroked her shoulder. Her eyes fluttered open and she made a small protest under her breath. Something about the sun needing to be shot, but he didn't quite catch all of it. It wasn't until she tried to sit up did she notice his arm around her did she remember last night.

"Um, thanks for last night. Please don't mention it to anyone!" She pleaded with her hands folded and her eyes closed tight.

"No problem, and sure." Blaze did his trademark toothy grin and slowly got off and away from her.

"Thanks Blaze." Chupi smiled back in appreciation.

"Oh, before I forget! Sunflora wanted me to put this on you." Blaze remembered as he fished around in his pockets before producing a small bundle of bandages. "It'll help your ribs not hurt as much and heal correctly."

"I can do it myself." Chupi said as she reached out for the white wrappings.

"Only if you can get it from me." Blaze slyly hopped up and held them over his head and far out of her reach.

"Hey! No fair!" Chupi complained as she tried jumping for it, hissing every time as the motion hurt her sore ribs with each step she took.

"See? If you can't get it, then it only proves that you're still too hurt to do it."

"But-but-"

"No buts. Now sit down so I can do it for you." Blaze ordered.

"Please?" She begged at him with big brown eyes. Oh no. No no no no _no, _she can't use that against him again. That's cheating! He can't deny that look. Whenever she looks at him with those eyes and says his name he can feel his willpower slipping. No! He won't succumb! He won't give up! He can't-

"Please Blaze?" She asked again.

"...Fine." He begrudgingly handed the bandage over.

"Yippee!" Her face lit up and she happily made her way back to her bed to begin putting them on.

He just can't say no to her.

He starred out the window as he waited for her to finish her business, wondering why Loudred hadn't come to wake them up yet. Maybe because it's a Saturday? Do they have different schedules for different days? He'll have to ask somebody. Probably Corphish; Loudred's explanation would give him a headache, and asking Bidoof would hurt his man-cred too much. He glanced over to Chupi to see how much progress she had made to find she had only gotten it around herself twice and wasn't even a quarter of the way done. She was biting her lip in exertion and her hands were shaking as she tried passing the bandage behind her back.

"Hey Blaze?"

"Yeah?"

"...Could you help me?" Chupi admitted defeat.

"Oh? I thought you wanted to do it by yourself?" He teased.

"Yeah, well, I changed my mind." She said stubbornly.

"So you admit you were wrong, and you need me?" He drawled as he approached her from behind and slid the bandages from her fingers and continued her work.

"Yeah, yeah. Don't get used to it." She put her hands against the wall (for better access) and blushed as she felt him tenderly work his hands around and around her slim waist. He wrapped it tight enough to be effective, yet she could tell he was being cautious. Like she would break if he pulled too tightly. Like she was glass and the wrong move would make her shatter. She told herself to be mad at him for treating her like some porcelain doll, but she couldn't bring herself to be angry at him. Why? If anyone one else had done the same, she would have gone donkey kong on their ass, but when he did it she felt...safe.

"Okay! All done!" Blaze announced as he clapped her soundly on the shoulder.

So much for the gentle treatment.

"Thanks Blaze." Chupi heaved herself to her feet and wiped some invisible dust from her legs.

"No problem, we're partners right?" Blaze turned and smiled that childish grin he was prone to using. It made her feel like sunshine. It made her feel nothing could go wrong in the world. It made her knees weak.

Wait. Where did _that_ come from?

"R-Right." She stammered as she was brought out of her stupor. "Let's get going, shall we?"

They slowly made their way to the common room of the guild, not hearing a peep of sound along the way. This is extremely strange considering the normally loud state of chaos their guild is usually in. Glancing around, Team Light couldn't seem to find anyone in the room at all!

"Hey, where is every-"

"SURPRISE!" chorused the guild as they sprung from their hiding spots. "Happy one week anniversary!"

Blaze and Chupi couldn't really explain anything after that. All at once their fellow explorers surrounded them with chatter of congratulations as confetti was spread haphazardly from the ceiling and blanketed everyone in rainbow strings.

"Wait, what's going on? I don't get it." Chupi tried to clear through the mob of friends but found it impossible.

"I believe I can clarify Chupi. Everyone, if you will." Chatot appeared from the shadows in a super creeper way and immediately everyone dispersed leaving the duo standing in the middle of the room.

"Here at Wigglytuff's guild it is notorious for new recruits to quit within the first week; finding the missions too hard to complete." Chatot slowly explained.

"SO BECAUSE YOU STUCK IT OUT THE FIRST WEEK YOU'RE OFFICIALLY ONE OF US!" Loudred finished, not being able to hold in his excitement any longer.

"Eek! I'm so happy!" Sunflora rushed to Chupi, squishing the poor girl to her chest.

"What? I thought we already were part of the guild?" Chupi questioned as she tried to release herself from Sunflora's vice grip.

"Yeah! You said you already accepted us when you gave us our badges!" Blaze glared pointedly at Chatot, knowing it was probably his idea.

"Well, so many in the past have given up that we can't consider you until at least a week have past yup yup." Bidoof mumbled. "I almost gave up myself, but I pushed through!" He looked to Chupi and back down to his feet.

"Hey hey! It doesn't matter now! You made it this far because of your hard work, so it's time to celebrate!" Corphish cheered. "You're one of us now!"

"One of us. One of us." Sunflora teased into Chupi's ear.

"YEAH!" The guild cried out happily.

"Not so fast!" Chatot, the stupid party pooper, shouted. "We have jobs to do. Celebrate on your own time. Get back to work!"

"Aww, can't we party just a little? Pleeeease?" Wigglytuff whined. "Please? Please? Please? Pleeeeeease?"

"No. You slept in your office all day yesterday. You have papers to fill, meetings to attend, pokemon to call-"

"Please Chatot?" Wigglytuff gave him the biggest, most tearful look the pink balloon could muster.

"...Okay." Chatot squeezed out as his last bit of resolve (and masculinity) left him.

Blaze was glad to know he wasn't the only one who couldn't stand up to 'the face'.

"Let's party! ZOOM-TAH!" Wiggly cheered. "But only till noon. There's pokemon to save!"

"Hooray!" Then the partying commenced. Balloons, snacks, music, little party hats, and a gigantic cake (not made by Sunflora) were quickly brought out in little time. Chimecho stood on Croagunk's table to act as a stage as she began the karaoke and Sunflora whisked herself to the dance floor. Most of the boys rushed to the cake in anticipation of sweet deliciousness. (Which embarrassingly had an image of Chupi and Blaze with their arms linked decorated on the icing. Most likely requested by Sunflora.) After all, Chimecho's cooking is the best! Chupi sat herself at one of the tables that had been set out, munching on a coveted corner slice of vanilla cake and not really knowing what to do.

She couldn't sing like Chimecho, whose voice was currently ringing out like sweet bells across the guild, enrapturing all who heard it.

She certainly couldn't dance like Sunflora. She looked like a flailing magikarp out of water compared to Sunflora's graceful moves.

So she sat there like a little emo kid in a corner as she watched her guild mates laugh it out on the dance floor

That is until Blaze slapped a party hat on top her head and snapped a picture.

"Hahaha! This is a keeper!" Blaze doubled over when he saw the shocked, confused image come out of the camera.

Still disorientated by the blinding flash, it took Chupi a few moments to take in what had just happened. But when she did, she swiped a chunk of her cake and edged closer to her laughing partner. Blaze wiped tears out of the corner of his eyes just in time to see the angry pikachu slowly stalking towards him with a handful of frosting. Needless to say, he bolted.

The guild stopped dancing to watch Team Light's antics as they chased each other around the room, occasionally hiding behind people and jumping over tables.

"Get back here! And give me that picture!" Chupi raised her frosting hand as a threat.

"Neveeer!" Blaze called back with a smile. The same one from this morning. Chupi felt her knees go weak again. With one last ditch effort she threw the frosting at her partner.

Did she forget to mention she also couldn't throw to save her life?

The mass of cake flung itself directly into Chatot's face and the room went silent. Except for Chupi who was trying to find somewhere to hide. She was dead, she just knew it. Dead. She doesn't remember being this scared since she fell in the ocean. But suddenly one voice rang out.

"Hahaha! Silly Chatot! You're so funny!" Wigglytuff beamed at the bird. "You make everything better!"

Blaze still swears to this day that he saw a blush across Chatot's nose.

"Well, if it pleases you master..."

"It does!" And just like that it seemed the matter was dropped and the party continued on. (Most likely to try to forget what had just happened between their two leaders.) Chupi...was alive! Did Wigglytuff subconsciously save her? Maybe she'll have to be more respectful to the thing from now on. But only a little.

But now she found herself in the middle of the dance floor and she panicked. Would they expect her to dance? She glanced over at Sunflora, who was getting into a groove as Loudred took his turn at karaoke. (He didn't even need a microphone XD) She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Blaze.

"Hey there, still mad?"

"Nah, it was fun chasing you." She grinned back. "Although, now my hand is now covered with frosting." She began to lick the palm of her hand to clean it of the sugary cream. "Mmm! It's really good though!"

"Hey! I want some!" He grabbed her wrist and yanked her forward so he could lap up what was on the back of her fingers. "You're right, it is good."

Chupi could feel her facing burning into a shade probably reminiscent of a cherri berry, but didn't pull away as Blaze went in for another taste. Scooping up another tongueful of frosting from Chupi's fingers, he looked up at said girl and froze.

There they were: in the middle of a crowd of their friends, Chupi's face a solid red color, and Blaze's tongue frozen on her fingers. That can't look good.

"Ack! Shit, I'm sorry Chupi!" He hissed, jumping away and dropping her hand. "Um, let's get you cleaned up." He fumbled as he decided to grab her wrist again and hustled the petrified pikachu to the bathroom to wash her hand.

"I knew it! My fluff-senses were tingling!" Sunflora exclaimed joyously when she saw what had gone down between the rookies. Shaking Chimecho violently, she continued. "Do you_ know_ what this _means_?"

"U-Um, no..." the passive, shy girl softly spoke.

"MARRIAGE!" She squealed and dropped poor girl to twirl in delight. "Oh, but I'm so insanely jealous! I want something romantic to happen to me..." she drifted off glancing at Loudred who was having a cake eating contest with Corphish.

"I'm not too sure if l-licking someone's fingers is romantic...or will lead to marriage." Chimecho blushed when having to say the work 'lick'.

"Of course it is! All the books say so!"

"Yes, yes. Whatever you say."

* * *

><p>Shuffling into the bathroom and locking it behind them, our heroes paused to look at eachother before quickly averting their eyes to the floor, both thinking the same thing.<p>

What the _heck_ just happened?

Other than the music they could still hear from the party, the room was filled with awkward silence. Blaze cleared his throat, catching Chupi's attention, and changed the subject.

"So, you can't dance?"

"Huh? What do you mean?" She nervously smiled, trying to avoid the question.

"You were pouting in a corner and glaring at the dance floor. I can put things together." He scoffed.

Was it that obvious?

"It's not that I c_an't_ dance it's that I- Wait. So when you took that picture were you..." Chupi started thinking.

"You looked so depressed that I couldn't leave you alone." He laughed and ruffled her hair. "I wanted to cheer you up."

"Hmm, that reminds me..." Chupi smiled devilishly and flicked her still frosting sticky finger onto his cheek, effectively smearing a small dab of cake topping on his skin. "There, payback for the picture!"

"Whaat? This is the thanks I get for being such a nice guy?" He raised his hand astonished to his now slightly dirty face as she hummed to herself and washed her hands.

"And this." Chupi squeezed her eyes shut and rushed forward before she lost her nerve. She grabbed his shoulders and bent him down, and even then she had to step on her tippy toes to do what she did next. Tentatively she pressed her lips to his sugary cheek, a kiss first before she softly flicked up some frosting. Licking her lips and releasing Blaze, Chupi blushed at her actions. "That was revenge for licking me without asking. How do _you_ like it?"

Honestly, he liked it. He liked it a lot. And if he weren't standing there stammering and gaping like a magicarp he might have told her that.

"I'm sorry. Was that too far?"

"No no no! I deserve it!" He was tempted to remind her that he had licked her hand twice, and needed to be 'punished' again, but he didn't want to take advantage of her. As he began wiping off the residue from Chupi's revenge they could hear the Chatot announce it was the last song before they had to get to work. The fast, club-scene tempo stopped and was replaced with a slower one. Chimecho's voice echoed into the bathroom in what appeared to be a love song.

"Why is there a love song playing?" Chupi giggled. "There's only three girls in the guild, one of them is singing, I'm in here, so the only girl to dance with is Sunflora!"

"Haha! Can you imagine everyone just standing on the sidelines watching Sunflora dance with one guy? Or maybe they're taking turns!" Blaze joked.

"Or worse! Maybe they're sick of waiting and are dancing with eachother!" Chupi added and Blaze cracked up at the image of Croagunk and Bidoof waltzing. "I can totally see Wigglytuff and Chatot!" Blaze laughed even harder thinking of the bird leaning his head lovingly on their creepy master's shoulder.

As their laughter died down and they rubbed the tears from their eyes they slowly looked up at each other. The romantic beat must have gone to Blaze's head because the next thing he knew he was holding out his hand and asking her to do the impossible.

"Want to dance?" The smile was gone from his face as he looked at her through serious eyes.

"Y-you sure?" One look from his steely gaze confirmed his intention. "This could be lethal."

He had to smile at that.

"Don't you trust me?" He encouraged her to hesitantly place her tiny hand in his calloused one.

How bad could she be?

* * *

><p>Several bruises and a pain killer later, Blaze finally decided to let Chupi stand on his feet as he shifted his weight from one leg to the other in order to 'dance'.<p>

"I'm so sorry! I told you I was bad!" She cried into his shoulder.

"It's okay, it's okay. I'm the one who wanted to do this." He gently patted her back before settling his hands back on her waist. Her really, really tiny waist. Was she always such a shrimp? She's always so capable in the dungeons that he forgets how small she is.

It reminded him of this morning when he wrapped her wounds and her hands trembled when she tried to do it herself. It reminded him how fragile she really was, so he had to be careful how he handled her. It reminded him how much his partner meant to him and he didn't want to lose her. Drowzee had been a close call, as close as it will ever be if he had anything to say about it. He would protect her.

"I wish I knew why I'm so bad at dancing. I can't remember anything. I remember I'm bad at it, but I don't know why..." She was still puzzled on how she could recall bits and pieces about herself, but doesn't have a clue on her childhood or past memories.

"I wish I knew too. It'd be interesting to find out who taught you to kick your partner's shin repeatedly when dancing."

"I'm sorry!" She buried her face back into his shoulder, and Blaze placed his hand on top of her head to keep it there. Stroking her hair, for a moment everything was peaceful, everything fell in place, everything was right. But sure enough Chimecho couldn't sing forever and the song dwindled to its last note before Chatot obnoxiously brought the party to an end.

Yes, I guess good things just can't last.

**And there it is! Bask in my awesomeness! BASK I SAY! Please remember to R&R, because that is the only thing that reminds me to update...**


	9. Bonus Chapter

**Ohoho! I return again! My stupid school decided to block fanfiction (curse you conservative southern school!) so it was harder to find time to write, seeing as I usually skip lunch to write. How (sort of) dedicated am I? I starve myself for you.**

**Disclaimer: Pokemon isn't mine. I'll have to accept that and move on.**

**Team Light: Chasing Away the Darkness**

**BONUS CHAPTER! SUPAH IMPORTANT MESSEGE! This takes place while Chupi and Blaze were in the bathroom and follows Sunflora POV during the party.**

Seeing them sneak out to the bathroom, Sunflora stopped her dancing. The other's heads turned as she moved to sit down at the nearest table. Thinking it strange that Sunflora, the usual life of the party, had sat down many of the others had also decided to desert the dance floor. As Sunflora pondered, and pondered, and pondered a sly grin slowly snuck it's way to her rosy lips. An evil, entrancing grin that let everyone know she was up to no good.

"Eureka!" She bounced to her feet and skipped over to Chimecho, the smirk never leaving her face. She harshly whispered into the taller girl's ear before giving an almost maniacal giggle. Or at least she tried to whisper. She's never been good at being quiet, because practically everyone in the room could hear her conversation and knew what evil plot she was planning.

"I'm not so sure if that's a good idea. A love song? Isn't that kind of strange?" The white haired girl tried to reason with her blonde friend, but it was useless. Once she gets an idea in her head, there's no stopping her. Sighing, she pushed herself back onto Croakgunk's counter and started implementing the plan.

"Okay everyone! Here's the last song before we have to go to work. Grab a partner because it's time for romance." Chimecho halfheartedly repeated what Sunflora had instructed her to say before going into the longest and mushiest love song she knew.

"Aww! Can't we play Cupid Shuffle again? No one can dance to this!" Diglett complained, his immaturity and age leaving him feeling icky about romance. As far as he knew, he would catch the cooties just by listening to this song. And you don't want to mess with cooties, that's some serious stuff.

"I like it!" Wigglytuff cooed.

"Dance with me Chatot!" The pink blob turned to his trusty partner in a whirl of flailing arms and excitement.

"I don't know..." Chatot weakly protested as he was dragged (albeit he didn't put up much of a fight) to the middle of the room.

"UPSIDE, INSIDE OUT! Livin' the VIVA LOCA!" Wigglytuff sang off key and led Chatot into a jitterbug.

"I'm pretty sure that's not the appropriate song...or dance." the bird pokemon chastised and spun his partner.

"Appropriate, schmopriate! Aren't cha havin' fun?" the pink balloon cheered as he was twirled around.

"...Yes. I suppose this is fun." Chatot wore a small smile before he started to get more into the dance. Soon the two found themselves in a more secluded corner to have a party of their own.

Sunflora stared intently at the bathroom door from her chair, hoping that if she stared long enough she would somehow gain x-ray vision and be able to see what her favorite 'project' was up to behind the door. She hoped it was story worthy. She loved a good gossip, and she wouldn't miss the chance to embarrass her newest friend. But before she could come up with any scenarios that Team Light could be in, Bidoof interrupted her fantasizing.

"By golly Sunflora, have you seen Chupi around? I wanted to ask her to dance." Bidoof bashfully rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Oh yea!" Sunflora lied through her teeth as she put a finger to her lips in mock thought. "I think she said she need some fresh air, or maybe she told me that she was going to get some food from the kitchen? I can't remember."

"Okay, I'll go check then." And with that he waddled elsewhere. "Thanks Sunflora!"

_Sorry Bidoof, nothing personal-okay maybe it's a little personal since you passed out in the dungeon and made me lose half my loot- but I can't let anyone interfere with my plans!_

She went back to staring, but seeing as she still hadn't gained x-ray vision, it got very boring. All the rest of the guys had decided the party was pretty much over and started to clean up. Her eyes drifted back and forth from the bathroom door to the dance floor. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. No way, all her ideas are good! She's a genius. But as Chimecho's song continued on she found herself glancing more than once at a certain purple haired loudmouth.

"Sigh..." Sunflora slumped over and pouted. Which certainly got the other's attention. Sunflora didn't...pout. She only had one expression: happy (if you don't count her evil smile when she' s plotting). Seeing her in this state of mini-depression was worrying.

"Sunflora, is something wrong?" Corphish asked.

"Nope, not at all! I'm a-okay!" She flashed her signature smile and posed with a peace sign. "See?"

"You sure? Do you want to dance with me?" Corphish was concerned.

"If you don't want to with him, you could dance with me." Croagunk, shockingly, offered.

"No really, that's okay. Don't worry." Sunflora denied their proposals, thoroughly embarrassed at this point but endeared that her friends would worry about her.

"That's right guys, step aside because SHE'S dancing with ME!" a booming voice from the back of the group announced. Sunflora flushed, immediately knowing who it was.

Loudred pushed himself pass the others until he stood in front of her with his hand held out to her.

"...Uh, uh..." Sunflora stammered out incoherently as she openly gaped at his hand.

"You afraid? C'mon just do it!" He gestured forward again and leaned in closer to her face.

"...Okay." Sunflora mumbled and timidly placed her hand in his. Wait a minute; Sunflora isn't shy like Chimecho. What is she doing? She suddenly gripped his hand tight and skipped over to the dance floor with her man, I mean, the man in tow. "Yeah! Let's go!"

"That's what I thought. Now you guys, SCRAM! There's nothing to see here!" Loudred bellowed at his friends, who broke out of their stupor to run into the kitchen and give them some privacy. He turned back to the girl, confidently placed his hands on his hips, and laughed. "Now, how do you do this? Because I don't know!"

"What? You've got to be kidding me. Here." She grabbed one hand slapped it to her waist, and held the other. She nonchalantly rested her own hand on his shoulder. "Now we kind of sway in circles. Simple, right?"

"I don't know, this feels weird." She could tell his hand was fidgeting on her waist.

"That's a sign that you're doing it right." Sunflora justly informed. "I should know. I am an expert."

"Of course you are, and I'm a tentacool." He lightly teased her as a joke.

"Shut up and dance." She took the initiative and pushed him into the steps.

"Aren't I supposed to lead?" He awkwardly tried to follow the rhythm as he stomped around.

"Well, you're leading the wrong way." She huffed and gave an extra tug.

"Hey, knock it off!" He pulled her hard enough that she was propelled into his chest. "I was the one to ask you to dance, so we're doing this my way!"

"Eek!" She squealed as her face, uh, face planted into him.

His hand now firmly set just above her hip (she noticed it was considerably lower than where it was before), Loudred forced Sunflora in the direction he wanted to go. Which for him was to be stationary and look at his feet, letting Sunflora do all the work. She smirked when she rolled her hip and felt his hand clench down and eyes avert themselves further off her.

"So why did you ask to dance with me?" Sunflora cheekily asked, in her heart she already knew the answer but it was more fun to slowly drag it out of him.

But Loudred saw through it. Two could play at that game. He slung the girl out before forcing her back into his arms. A little too close for comfort, if you asked her.

"Why did you agree?" Loudred retorted with a smirk of his own. He had her there, and she silently cursed herself for not having a clever comeback.

"Um, well..." She stuttered un-wittily. Smooth, Sunflora chastised herself, just smooth. Becoming more confident with the simple steps, Loudred took this moment to try to clumsily twirl the lithe grass type. Giggling lightly at the poor attempt, Sunflora glanced back up at him through her smile.

"Sunflora, I..." Loudred quietly started before trailing off. Sunflora's smile momentarily dropped out of shock. She had never heard Loudred speak softly before. The lowest decibel he's ever gone was still louder than the average inside voice. She suddenly got nervous by the serious tone.

"...Yeah?" She replied just as softly.

"Do you want to go on a mission with me later?" He whispered and turned his head away, ashamed that he chickened out of what he was originally going to say. He only noted her reaction through the corner of her eye.

"Of course! I thought you'd never ask!" She gleefully half tackled the poor guy in delight. He turned stiff as the bubbly girl nuzzled his neck, and awkwardly patted her back, not entirely used to this level of affection.

"Yeah, yeah."

"SQUACK? What do we have here?" Chatot bristled at them. "It's already well pass noon, and you two are still meandering out here? Break it up you two, or do you want to be assigned dish duty after dinner?"

Instantaneously they jumped away from each other and firmly set their hands to their sides.

"NO SIR!"

"Good, now everyone the party is over, so get back to work!" Chatot announced and swiftly grabbed Wigglytuff, who was trying to sneak away. "That means you too, master!"

"Aww, no fun Chatot! I don't wanna go to any boring meetings!" Wigglytuff whined as he was dragged away by the angry bird.

"So about that mission...?" Sunflora grinned at her guild mate.

"How about tomorrow?" Loudred lifted a thumb up.

"Sure!" She thumbs up in return before heading their separate ways. How strange, she thought, I didn't even notice the music ended. That dance seemed to last forever! Maybe it's just my imagination.

Chimecho silently smirked to herself. Little did they know that she had repeated the song four times to prolong the dance.

**Ahh, so that's how they were able to talk so long without the music ending. You're so sneaky Chimecho. This is just a bonus chapter so next chapter we will continue on with our main heroes. I just wanted some side character fluff. I really like these two together, but I don't know why.**

**Sorry about having another dancing chapter but when talking to Solid205 about it, I got inspired to make this. And sorry about the shortness of this.**


	10. Chapter 9

****Hey there peeps! Sorry for the delay, I had a graduation to attend, a wedding that was in another state, and of course a vacation to DISNEY WORLD! Whoop! (Jealous? I thought so. I got my picture taken with Merida, the new ginger princess. Love love love me some ginger princesses) And onward! Mush!****

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon, but maybe someday...**

**Team Light: Chasing Away the Darkness**

Chupi and Blaze quickly made their way out of the bathroom, eager to finally get to work on their next dungeon mission. But just as they were bee lining to the job board, Chatot stopped the duo in their tracks.

"What gives Chatot? I thought you said it was time for work." Blaze growled at the interruption.

"Why I never! Brats these days...although yesterday's capture of Drowzee was impressive, you two shall be working sentry duty today!"

"Sentry duty? What's that?" Chupi asked.

"It is Diglett's job normally but he is filling in for his father, so you have to fill in for him." Chatot explained slowly, like he was talking to five year olds.

"What? But we wanted to go a dungeon today!" the charmander complained.

"No buts, your partner is still injured or have you forgotten? Sentry duty! Now go find Loudred so he can explain it to you, I don't have any more time for your pestering." Chatot huffed and flew off.

"Ugh, sentry duty does not sound fun." Blaze grumbled.

"I'm sorry. If I wasn't injured you could-" Chupi began apologizing.

"Don't worry about it Chupi, just get better soon and we'll be able to explore again in no time!" He patted her head softly.

"If you keep that up, my hair won't like you very much." She swatted his hand away, but couldn't deny that she kind of liked the tingly sensation that lingered.

"Okay, okay! Hey Loudred!" Blaze called out for his friend. "Could you teach us about Sentry Duty?"

"Sure, it's easy! You go down this little hole here-" Loudred indicated thus giant chasm by his feet " -and walk until you find a bright light above you."

"Sounds kinda sketchy" Chupi murmured.

"Don't interrupt! Anyways, pokemon will walk on top of the crate above you and you'll need to identify them by their footprint before we can let visitors in. Just yell who you think is there and I'll check to make sure they aren't a bad pokemon, 'k?"

"Sounds easy enough. Let's go Chupi!" Blaze hoisted the girl over his shoulder and leaped down the hole.

"Wha-Hey! Eeek!" Chupi squeaked as they fell into darkness and with an 'oomph' Blaze (somehow) landed on his feet.

"You okay Chupi? You didn't hurt your wound again, did you?" He set her down as gently as possible and went to examining the pikachu.

"Yes it's fine, but you almost gave me a heart attack! Give a girl fair warning when she's about to be thrust down a hole." She lightly smacked his dimly illuminated shoulder.

"Sorry, but you know if I did, you would have protested getting picked up."

"Shush." She hated it when he was right. "Let's just try to find this 'light' Loudred was talking about." As she stepped forward she accidentally slipped on a puddle in the dank tunnel, falling backwards into Blaze's chest where he caught her by her arms.

"Whoa! You okay? Did you hurt yourself?" Blaze gazed over her half tumbled body that was leaning against him.

"No, I'm fine. I'm tougher than I look so quit worrying about me." She grinned up at him. It also helps that she's a natural born klutz and is used to getting scrapes and cuts from tripping over her own shoelace. (Thankfully Blaze got her boots so maybe that won't happen again, but it was only a matter of time before her clumsiness transcended the norm and found a way to do that too.) She was suddenly struck with how odd it was that she could know things about herself but still have no memory of her past.

"Haha, okay then come on." He pushed her back to her feet. "But first let's get a little more light in here. We don't need you tripping again." Inhaling a large lungful of air, his chest puffing out as he did so, Blaze intensified the flame on his tail to illuminate the cave walls. Chupi stared in awe as the fire crackled and roared to life in front of her, the warmth immediately rushed to her cheeks and she felt herself relax under its caress.

"Wow." She was speechless at the display of power he exerted.

"We need to hurry, I can't hold this for very long." Blaze briskly grabbed Chupi's hand and guided her down the tunnel until they came across a dead end with a skylight above them.

"This must be it. Well, let's get this over with." Chupi slipped her hand from her partner's to lie down on the ground and stare up at the light above her. Upon further inspection Chupi noticed the telltale crisscross pattern of the crate that was placed above the hole above.

"What 'cha you doing there, Chupi?" Blaze questioned the girl.

"Laying down so I don't have to crane my neck to see." Chupi said matter of factly and placed her hands on her tummy.

"Oh, I'll join you then." Blaze got to his knees and shifted himself so that he was spread out on his back next to the pikachu. Carelessly folding his arms behind his head for a pillow, he slowly let the fire on his tail dim to its original strength.

"Do we just wait around for someone to come?" Chupi asked sleepily and yawned. "This is kind of boring, I wish we were exploring a dungeon or something."

"Yeah, but until Chatot stops being a jackas- hey! Someone's there!" Blaze excitedly pointed at the large set of footprints above them. "Who do you think it is?"

"Hmm...I think it's a Swampert. They're very large and webbed with three flat toes so..." Chupi guessed.

"Oh yeah, I see it! That's a lot better than my guess; I thought it was a Kangaskhan." Blaze rubbed the back of his head embarrassed. "Hey Loudred!"

"WHAT?" Loudred called back. His abnormally loud voice was amplified by the tunnels and echoed horribly in team light's ears.

"There's a Swampert outside!" Blaze gritted out as he blocked his ears.

"OK!" The two could hear Loudred running up the ladder to reach outside and check the visitor out. "Hey you were right! C'mon in Swampert!"

"Alright! Good job Chupi!" Blaze high-fived his blonde partner.

"Thanks." Chupi returned. The feet left the crate and Loudred scurried back down the ladder to return to his post. "Wait, let me get this straight; we identify the pokemon just so Loudred can run up and confirm who it is, let them in, and run back down? That's stupid! Why doesn't Loudred just sit at the top and do his post from there? We wouldn't have to sit in a hole and Loudred wouldn't have to climb the ladder ten times!" Chupi was beyond confused by the messed up system.

"I don't know Chupi, ask Wigglytuff." Blaze shrugged his shoulders.

"...Never mind, I don't need to know." Chupi mumbled and dropped the subject, a shiver running down her back at the idea of confronting the pink guildmaster.

It turned out that they only had one visitor for that whole day, and although they had technically maintained a perfect score of correct identifications, Chatot was not impressed. He announced that they would have sentry duty for an entire week and only if they perform perfectly for that entire week would they receive their award. Needless to say Team Light went to bed that night rather ticked at the turn of events.

Work was rather slow for that week. With only a few visitors per day and nothing to contain their boredom, the pair was growing restless with the need to go outside. (Especially since Chupi's wounds healed by the third day.) All their spare time they devoted to secretly sneaking out to Marowak's recently reopened gym and training until they were too tired to move. Fortunately this allowed them to steadily increase their levels and harness their moves; unfortunately this means they itched to try them out in the dungeons even more.

But finally as time would allow, the week ended and Chatot was forced to evaluate their work for the week.

"Chatot! We finished, we finished, we finished, we finished!" Chupi excitedly explained, shaking the flying type's shoulders violently.

"What nonsense are you spouting, I don't have time for your games! I'm a very busy pokemon." Chatot shrugged her off but before he could walk away, Blaze grabbed his shoulder.

"No way! You said if we did sentry duty for a week we could get our reward."

"Ah yes, I see. But you'll only get the reward if you correctly identified all the visitors, which I highly doubt." Chatot thrust his snooty nose into the air with confidence.

"Here's Loudred's log!" Chupi forced the clipboard into his hands." You'll see here that we have a perfect score!" she beamed.

"Well...There were only ten visitors for the week so it's not too impressive..." Chatot skimmed his eyes over the sheet.

Team light's faces immediately fell in despair. He wasn't going to assign another week of sentry was he-

"...But it will do. You will find your rewards in your bed quarters after dinner tonight." He handed the log back to Chupi. "That is all."

As soon as Chatot was out of earshot the duo yelled out a triumphant 'yahoo'.

"Blaze, it-it's a miracle! No more sentry duty!" Chupi gripped Blaze's jacket as she faked some tears of joy. "Life is so beautiful."

"I-I feel like I have a reason to live again!" Blaze mocked cried back and hugged her close. Pulling apart, the two glanced at each other only to burst out in laughter. "Hey Chupi, we still have an hour until dinner tonight, you up for a quick mission?"

"Eh? Now?"

"Yeah! I promise it will be super fast! We'll do an easy one in the Beach Cave. Pleeease?" the charmander whined and folded his hands as he assumed the begging position.

"I don't know Blaze. It's getting late and we might miss dinner if we're out too late-" she protested.

"Then it's settled. We're going!" Blaze announced as he grabbed his partner's arm.

"Blaaaaaze!" Chupi screeched as she was helplessly tugged behind her fire type friend. Blaze ignored her cries and continued to dash to the bulletin board, ripping the first mission he saw before practically flying up the ladder. Soon enough they were puddle littered cave, marching on to do who knows what.

"Really Blaze? Really? Whhy? I don't want to walk around a muddy cave at night! I could be taking a relaxing bath right now." Chupi moaned as she walked behind him. Blaze simply crackled at her misery.

"It'll be fun! Trust me. Besides, didn't you say just yesterday that you were sick of sentry duty and wanted some real action?" He grinned teasingly back at her.

"Well, um, yes, but I don't want to do a job today! We already trained in the gym this morning..."

"Aw, c'mon Chupi! Please? Besides we're already here. And the job I grabbed says we only have to find some oddish and lead her out." Blaze said as he scanned the paper in his hand.

"...Fine." Chupi gave in to which Blaze hissed out none too subtle 'yesss', complete with clenched fist and victory pose. "Hey, watch it! A shelder is coming!"

Without missing a beat, Blaze gracefully spun around to metal claw his opposer, downing the shelder in one stroke of his hand.

"Uh...whoa. That was weird." He mumbled and stared at his hand in wonder.

"Jeez Blaze, talk about overkill! He fainted so quickly. Why? It would normally take two or three hits to win." Chupi analyzed. "Maybe it's all that training we did in the gym! We're a lot stronger than we were a week ago."

"Yeah, I guess I just didn't expect it to be so...intense?" Blaze dropped his hand. "But this is so cool! I never dreamed I could ever be this strong!"

He was right. When they first met he was timid and unsure of everything, but now he was dragging her to dungeons and uncomfortable with doing sedentary task such as sentry duty. He had changed so much in such little time, it seemed as if she had just blinked and he was a whole new person. He was more confident of himself, more outgoing, and it was hard to believe that the scaredy cat she had met not too long ago was now this powerful, bold charmander in front of her.

"Maybe you just had it in you all along." Chupi smiled.

"Aw, Chupi..." He looked at her with bubbly eyes before smirking. "That was so cheesy!"

"What? Here I am trying to be sentimental and you call me cheesy!" The pikachu was indignant.

"But thanks." Blaze's smile left her knees weak again, but the feeling was short lived as a corsola caught sight of them.

"Hyah!" Chupi cried as she tackled herself into the pokemon. The corsola too was down in one hit.

"Whoa Chupi! I didn't even see that corsola! You were so fast." Blaze cheered.

"I guess we're even faster too. This seems so strange. Even our basic tackle attack was able to OHKO." Chupi gazed down at the fainted pokemon at her feet with pity. She felt bad for having to hurt them. "Hey Blaze?"

"Yeah?" Blaze was checking the area for the lost oddish.

"Do you want to try a job at Mt. Bristle tomorrow?" Chupi lowered her head.

"Are...are you sure? The last time we were there was when Drowzee..." Blaze trailed off not wanting to relive the day she was kidnapped.

"It's okay. I have to face it eventually. Best get it out of the way." Chupi mumbled and tried not to think of the torture she had been put through in that dungeon.

"If you say so...Don't worry Chupi! I'm with you this time!" Blaze put on a determined face, thrusting his fist in the air and wrapping his arm around her shoulder. "There'll be no psychotic fatasses to hurt you while I'm around!" Chupi laughed at his insult to Drowzee.

He was glad she was cheering up; she looked best with a smile on her face. He made a promise he would protect her, and he'd be damned he broke it. Whether it's her inner conflicts, dungeon pokemon, or Bidoof's raging hormones, Blaze would be sure to be there to keep her safe. He vowed to it.

"But you know, we'll only be able to go to Mt. Bristle if Chatot doesn't have any other plans for us." Chupi joked remember how last time they had tried to pick up a job Chatot had somehow roped them into sentry duty.

"Ugh, Chatot frustrates me, it's like he takes pleasure in our misfortune- oh hey is that the oddish we're supposed to rescue?" Blaze pointed ahead to a small, docile looking girl with green hair trying to run away from a glaring shellos. "Chupi, you go to the girl and I'll take care of the shellos!" Blaze took off in a run.

"Got it!" Chupi picked up her pace and followed him to the scene. Kneeling down to the little girl on the ground, Chupi wrapped her arms around her to shield her from any more damage. Blaze rose to the action and quickly made work of the shellos before turning his attention to the two girls on the ground behind him.

"You guys okay?" He held out his hands for them to take and pulled them to their feet.

"Yeah, we're fine Blaze. We may have overreacted to the Shellos..." She glanced down at the passed out pokemon before looking back at the oddish. "Did he hurt you? Any injuries?"

"No, I'm fine." the oddish replied completely ignoring Chupi and putting her full attention to Blaze. "But I might need to be carried back. " She batted her eyes flirtatiously at the charmander and Chupi had to hold in her gag reflex. "Do you know any big, strong pokemon that could help a girl out?" She leaned into him.

"Um no. None of that is necessary because our exploration badge will automatically send you back to our guild." Chupi interrupted the girl's advances onto her partner. Seriously? This girl has to be at least five years younger than us and she's trying to hit on Blaze! What the heck? What's this girl's problem? Chupi felt anger stew in the back of her throat.

"Well, here we go. I set the badge to take us back." Blaze had stopped fiddling with his badge and held it out to the oddish. Upon touching it she immediately transported away. Good, now Chupi could take that bath she was looking forward to and-wait.

"Why weren't we transported too?" Chupi slowly turned to her partner with a deadly glare.

"Well, I thought maybe, since we're so much stronger, we could just go ahead and...go all the way...to the end of the dungeon?" Blaze quivered out as Chupi's death glare grew in intensity with each word.

"Blaaaze!" She whined. "You said it would just be a quick mission! Not an entire dungeon!"

"It will be! The other pokemon won't take as long to knock out so it'll be super fast. Let's go!" Blaze called out and quickly turned around in search of the next set of stairs.

"Fine." Chupi smiled. She couldn't resist his excitement. 'But something's wrong here...Normally Blaze just does what I say, what's different?' Chupi thought. She shrugged and jogged to reach her retreating partner.

'Good thing she didn't use 'the face'.' Blaze thought. 'That's my one weakness. Well that and water and ground types but that doesn't count.'

"So...that oddish girl?" Chupi tried to casually bring up a conversation.

"What about her?" Blaze looked at her curiously.

"What did you think about her?"

"Hmm? I don't know what you mean."

"Just what did you think?" Chupi muttered looking away.

"Ah, I see." Blaze adopted a sly smirk onto his face. "You're jealous."

"What?" Chupi snapped her head up in shock. "Am not!"

"You totally are!" He poked her cheek a little.

"...Am not." She glared at the ground. Aw, who the hell was she kidding? The green monster had bitten her, and bitten her bad. She didn't understand why though. Why should she be jealous of some obnoxious elementary schooler?

"She's not my type any way. She seemed too fake." He took his finger off her cheek to pat her head affectionately. "Besides, I like you a whole lot more than some ten year old."

She blushed at that and couldn't help the smile that reached her face or the happiness that bubbled around in her stomach. But then she couldn't help wondering what 'his type' was then.

"Hey, I think we reached the top!" Blaze ran forward to step into the clearing that marked the end of the dungeon.

"Remember when we beat Koffing and Zubat here? The looks on their faces when we kicked their butts!" Chupi giggled.

"Yeah!" Blaze laughed. "And we got back my treasure." He pulled his necklace out with the stone on the end out of his shirt to admire it in his hand. "You know, I don't think we've gotten any closer to figuring out what this pattern means or getting your memories back..."

"That's okay. We'll find it someday." She reassured. "You know what this place reminds me the most of?"

"What?"

"What a wimp you used to be!" She grinned at him.

"What?" Blaze choked out astonished. "Hey!"

"You're not that way anymore." She squeezed his hand with hers. "You used to over think things and worry constantly, but now you're more confident and brave."

"Really?" Blaze looked into her eyes.

"Of course! Like today; instead of over thinking taking a mission you just grabbed me and ran! You didn't think through that one at all!" She laughed.

"Hey! Is that supposed to be a compliment?"

"Yep!" She smiled. "You let loose a lot and opened up."

"I guess I did." Blaze looked up thoughtfully. "Hey, let's go home now."

"Yes! Bath time!"

* * *

><p><strong>Hey there! Sorry for the rushed writing but I didn't want to write about sentry duty... Although fun in the games it's probably boring to read about. :)<strong>

**Yay I finally got a user pic! Huzzah!**


	11. Chapter 10

**Hello there. I've been done with this for a couple days but wanted to wait to post this today because IT'S MY BIRTHDAY! Whoop!**

**Disclaimer: Pokemon not mine.**

**Team Light: Chasing Away the Darkness**

**Chapter 10**

As it turns out, Blaze and Chupi's little adventure caused them to miss dinner to which Blaze got a large bruise on his head from his angry little partner.

As Chupi skipped down the hallway with all her bath stuff in hand she found her mood increasing dramatically. She finally can have her coveted bath. Just her alone with no interruptions and a tub full of steamy water. Just what she needed to de-stress herself. She began humming to herself in satisfaction but stopped when she heard her name.

"Chuchu!" Sunflora tackled the small girl in a hug, almost falling over. "Where have you been? I haven't seen you in, like, forever!"

"Oh, sorry about that." Chupi struggled to be released from her tall friend's grip. "I got sucked into sentry duty for a week and then Blaze dragged me off to do a job so we missed dinner."

"Oh, poor Chuchu! Having to suffer through the dullness of sentry duty!" Sunflora tightened her hold and Chupi almost choked. "I really don't know how Loudred suffers through that everyday...Wait, were you about to go take a bath?" Sunflora asked noticing the soap and towel under Chupi's arm.

"Y-yeah..." Oh no, Chupi had a bad feeling about this.

"Wait just a couple of minutes! Chimecho and I could join you!" Sunflora spun around in delight.

"Are you sure? I don't know if I want to be naked around a bunch of people." Chupi tried to get out of it, but was failing miserably. She could already feel her quiet evening slipping away.

"No problem! We can all wear swimsuits. You can borrow one of mine." Sunflora added when she saw Chupi open her mouth for another excuse.

"Okay." Chupi might as well accept the inevitable; Sunflora always gets her way.

"Awesome! Just let me go grab Chimecho!" Sunflora then sprinted back to her room to emerge two seconds later with her swimsuit on and Chimecho on arm. "Ready!"

Chupi didn't really want to know what laws of nature Sunflora broke in that room.

"Hello there, Chuchu. Nice to see you." Chimecho smiled pleasantly from her position in Sunflora's arm.

"You too, Chimecho."

"Enough chitchat ladies! We have a week's worth of gossip to catch up on, and I don't intend to waste another minute in the hallway!" Sunflora commanded and sheppard the two girls into the washroom.

Slipping on their swimsuits and washing up before getting in the large, stone tub (as to not get the water dirty), the girls gave a sigh of content when they slipped into warm, soothing water.

"Now that we're all situated, let the juicy gossip begin!" Sunflora cheered. She must have been waiting to do this all week.

"So Sunflora, how was that slow dance with Loudred?" Chimecho innocently smiled and the younger girl gaped openly like a goldeen.

"I, uh, you-" Sunflora fought a losing battle and turned redder with each word.

"Hmm, what's this Sunflora? Loudred?" Chupi had been on the receiving end of Sunflora's teasing for too long to not get revenge.

"I don't know what you're talking about. He just asked me to dance and I said yes." Sunflora 'hmphed'.

"But what about all those others who asked you before Loudred did? You said no to them." Chimecho pressed on, her usual angelic smile though held a devious gleam.

"Well, um, I..." Sunflora was a complete loss of words.

"Hahaha, so Loudred was the guy you were 'interested' in?" Chupi held up air quotes.

"Grr, did ya have to figure it out that quickly? I like surprises."

"Yep! It's been confirmed." Chupi was having such fun with this.

"You know, I would have never guessed with how much you two fight, but I guess that should have been what made it obvious." Chimecho giggled to herself.

"We don't fight that much!" the grass-type protested.

"Sunflora, you yell at him at least once a day." Chupi then smiled. "But you know, Loudred always comes back for more..."

"I guess he does." Chimecho said thoughtfully.

"Do you think...?" Chupi turned to her curvy friend.

"Is it possible...?" Chimecho turned to Chupi in return.

"That he's a masochist?"

"And she's a sadist?"

"Wow Sunflora, I didn't know you were into that kind of thing." Chupi held in a laugh behind her hand.

"Excuse me? Don't make up weird assumptions while I'm right here!" Sunflora pointed angrily at her friends as her blush turned darker.

"You do that to me all the time though."

"Speaking of," Sunflora's eyes sparkled dangerously. "You and Blaze had sentry duty, alone, in a dark hole, for a week. Did anything interesting happen?"

"What? NO!" Chupi held her hands up. "Nothing happened at all! We just talked and trained in the gym all week."

"Hmm, nothing huh? I guess that my plan from the party last week didn't work. And I thought so hard on it too!" Sunflora snapped her fingers in frustration.

"Wait...the party last week? Plan? So that love song was your doing!" Chupi pointed her finger at Sunflora in realization.

"Guilty as charged." Sunflora admitted rather nonguiltily. "But you two just needed an extra push! I totally saw what happened on the dance floor with the frosting! I swear you should have put some of the frosting on your mouth and he would've licked that up too and then one thing would lead to another and-" Sunflora began getting carried away with her fantasies.

"SUNFLORA! That's just- I mean- Oh my mew!" Chupi thought she was going to pass out from the blood that flowed to face and splashed the girl. She should not be thinking of her partner like that.

"Hey, if that's how you want to be, two can play at that game." Sunflora splashed her back, which turned into a water war.

"Now girls-" Chimecho started to bring the peace but was cut off by an ill placed slash to the face. This meant business. "You know, the fact that you two are angry only means that you like Blaze and Loudred."

That certainly stopped them.

"What? I mean, of course I like Blaze, but he's my partner and I've barely known him a month. There's no way I could love him, right?" Chupi rationalized.

"I never mentioned anything about love, Chuchu." Chimecho gave her classic smile.

"...Oh." Chupi was dumbfounded. Why had she assumed more? She could not, cannot, think of him like that, she told herself. It would just end terribly. What if it ruined their friendship? That was the one thing that kept her sane around here. Without him there, she would have no one to understand her. But whenever he held her, or teased her, or comforted her, she couldn't help the blush that pushes it's way to her face or the happiness that seemed to surge through her body. But she just liked him, right?

Right?

"Ooh, Chuchu! Burned!" Sunflora chortled.

"Same could be said for you, Sunflora." Chimecho burned her heavenly smile onto the other girl.

"Well, duh, of course I love him!" Sunflora announced.

"HUH?" Both girls, even Chimecho, did not expect that.

"Well, yeah. Sometime after the party I just kind of realized it. We even went on a mission together. We fought the majority of the way through the dungeon, but it was still the most fun I've ever had on mission!" Sunflora giggled, obviously remembering the day.

"Congrats Sunflora!" The grass-type's friends simultaneously hugged her.

"Thanks!"

"Are you going to ask him out and make it official?" Chupi asked eagerly.

"No way! Are you kidding me? Loudred doesn't like me back. How could he? We fight everyday." Sunflora said sadly, but tried to keep her happy face.

"Oh, Sunflora..." Chimecho whispered and tried to think of some advice. "You never know unless you try. And I'm very, very sure he likes you too."

"I'll think about it."

"Good, now we should get out soon or we'll get pruney." Chimecho tried to lighten the mood.

Quickly getting out and changing into her pajamas for bed, Chupi said goodnight to her friends and headed to Blaze's and her room. She must have been more tired than she thought as she let out a sleepy yawn and turned the corner into her room.

"Hey Blaze." She greeted upon seeing the Charmander lazily sprawled out on his hay bed. "Sorry for hitting you before."

"It's fine." Blaze propped himself onto his elbows and grinned.

"We should probably go to bed if we want to be able to go to Mt. Bristle tomorrow, so-"

"Chupi! Blaze! Chatot wants everyone down to the main room ASAP!" Bidoof charged into their room out of breath before waddling down the hall to tell more guildmates.

"Let's go." Chupi's tone turned serious as Blaze hopped up and they ran down the hall to see the entire guild heading there too.

Running full speed to the main room, the team was surprised but relieved to find the rest of the guild crowded around in their pajamas just as confused as they were. There were only a few candles lit as pokemon began passing around the light and chatting amongst themselves as they tried to figure out why they were called down at such a late hour.

Blaze and Chupi made their way over to Corphish and Croagunk to see if they had any answers.

"Do you what's going on?" Blaze inquired.

"Nope. I'm just as clueless as you, but it must be important if Chatot wants us all out of bed to hear it." Corphish replied. "And I was having such a nice dream too...so many apples..." Corphish stopped talking and began drooling openly at recalling the memory.

"...I need to sleep or I'll be cranky." Was all that Croagunk had to say about the matter.

"All right everyone! Quiet down, I imagine all of you want to know why I've called you down here." Chatot emerged from the darkness of Wigglytuff's office to address the group. It took all the power of the guild to not burst out laughing at the scene, for there was Chatot standing tall and proud in his button up pajamas with little music notes on it, complete with matching sleeping cap and eye visors. "What is this? Everyone's completely silent. Well, maybe you all have finally learned to respect me." Chatot said pleasantly.

It was getting difficult to stifle their laughter and tears were welling up in some of their eyes.

"Well, at least this proves he doesn't sleep in his underwear. That would be something I don't want to see." Chupi whispered up to Blaze and he nearly lost it.

"Really? That's just wonderful Chatot!" Wigglytuff beamed from behind his flying type friend. Wigglytuff stepped into the candlelight, illuminating a face that mirrored the creepiness of the Wigglytent outside, and revealed that Wigglytuff wore pajamas matching to that of Chatot's only decorated with tiny hearts instead.

Everyone's laughter died in their throats at the image they all wished to unsee.

"Well, getting to the point; some very bad news has arisen that we wish to inform the guild of immediately." Chatot began.

"It couldn't wait 'til morning?" Sunflora moaned rubbing her eyes and trying to adjust the many curlers imbedded in her hair. "I need my beauty sleep you know. You can't expect me to look amazing all the time without a little work."

"This news is of utmost importance, so I would appreciate not being interrupted." Chatot continued. "This is shocking to most of us but it appears that... someone has stolen a time gear in Treeshroud Forest. All time has stopped in that area."

"WHAT?" Loudred's voice out powered all the other's shocked cries.

"Oh, how could this have happened?" Chimecho raised a shaky hand to her open mouth. Croagunk and Corphish hurriedly whispered to each other their opinions and Dugtrio hugged his son close to his body.

"But who...?" Chupi asked herself. "Who would be evil or stupid enough to steal a time gear?" She noticed her partner staring wide eyed at the ground below her and squeezed his hand. Shifting his attention onto her, he gave a short squeeze back.

"This is important information, but rest assured that Officer Magnezone is on the case. No need for any one to worry, the criminal will be stopped."

"That's it everyone! Now it's sleep-sleep time! Back to your rooms!" Wigglytuff bounced back into his office and a disgruntled Chatot followed him.

"Gee, how am I supposed to go back to bed now?" Bidoof whimpered. "I'm really scared..."

"Don't worry about it buddy." Corphish gave his friend a reassuring pat on the back. "It's not like the thief is going to come here, and besides, most of the other time gears are hidden so there's nothing to fear."

"Maybe we can rally up and defend the other time gears! We're a guild, so it's our duty to protect everyone. I say that we beat the criminal at his own game and ambush him if he tries to find another time gear!" Loudred pumped his fist in determination. "Who's with me?"

Several cheers rang out at Loudred's plan. Blaze finally took his eyes off the floor to look upon the crowd.

"Yes. Wigglytuff's guild is one of the best around. We are known for our bravery, courage, and friendship so I'll be damned if we go against our rep and take this lying down. Let's fight this!" Blaze spoke out.

This speech earned an even louder applause of approval. Chupi looked up in admiration and awe.

"But let's do it in the morning!" Corphish cheered. "Because we still need guildmaster's permission and it's kinda late..." He let out a small yawn to emphasize his point. The group muttered to themselves and sleepily began making their ways back to the rooms.

**Don't worry about this being short; I already have almost all of the next chapter written so it'll be up within the week.**


	12. Chapter 11

**Hey there! Twice in one month, it's been a while since I've done that.**

**Disclaimer: Pokemon is totally all mine! (Just kidding, I own nothing)**

**Team Light: Chasing Away the Darkness**

**Chapter 11**

Lacing up her boots as the morning light shone into the small bedroom, Chupi hummed contently to herself. Today was the day she had been looking forward to; the day she returned to Mt. Bristle. Blaze was already standing in the doorway, ready to go.

"You almost done? I think morning announcements are going to start soon." Blaze glanced down the hall to see if anyone was heading down to the main room.

"Yep! All done!" Chupi hopped up after tightening the knot to her shoe. "Did I ever say thank you for the boots you bought me? 'Cause I reeeally like them." She swung out her leg to admire her foot.

"Yes, you did. Only about a million times when you opened them up. And probably a million more times when you put them on." Blaze commented.

"Well, still. Thanks!" She gave him a quick hug of appreciation and skipped down the hallway. She rather liked giving him hugs now that she was used to it, and it was even better when he hugged her back.

"Whatever." Blaze grumbled and followed after her in a less girly manner.

Morning call was over quickly and Chatot dismissed them.

"Wait!" Bidoof blurted out, but became nervous when everyone's eyes were on him. "Um, there was something we wanted to speak to you two about..." he trailed off, hoping someone would pick up where he left off.

But no one moved. Shifting eyes nervously and fidgeting in place, everyone waited for someone to speak up about the plan they had made the night before.

"Well, what is it? We don't have time for nonsense and twitter-twaddle!" Chatot retorted in annoyance.

"What is it you wanted to say? Ooh no! Let me guess! Let me guess! Is it...?" Wigglytuff began babbling off random guesses, each one more ridiculous than the last, ranging from a secret surprise birthday party that was six months in advance to having found a space mankey that would send them all to the moon. Then his conversation turned towards how he would become best friends with the space mankey and frolic on the moon together.

"Yo Bidoof!" Sunflora stage whispered. "You brought it up! Keep going!"

"No way!" Bidoof squirmed in his spot pathetically. "Besides, it was Loudred's idea! He should do it!"

"What!" Loudred said not nearly as quietly. "Well, Blaze was the one who got everyone all fired up for it last night!"

"Hey! Don't bring me into this! Aren't you man enough to do it?" Blaze called over with a smirk.

"Aren't you?" Loudred pushed on with an equally sly face. That did it. If there's one that you don't mess with (other than his partner), it was his man-cred. You don't question that. Ever. You can call him what you want, but if it questions his manliness, you better sleep with one eye open.

"Fine." Blaze begrudgingly accepted defeat." Chatot, Wigglytuff, there's something that we wanted to speak to you about."

Chatot turned his attention towards the fire type and Wigglytuff stopped his rambling.

"What is it Blaze? I reeeally hope it's that mankey!" Wigglytuff looked up hopefully with his large round eyes.

"Do enlighten us, we're waiting." Chatot egged on.

Blaze took a gulp and began. "I've been thinking, I mean, we've all been thinking since last night when you told us about the stolen time gear that we, uh..." Chupi gently nudged him in the side and smiled. "We want to go find the other time gears so that we can protect it from the thief!"

"Well, that is a awfully large task! Do you really think that we would possibly-" Chatot squawked angrily but was interrupted.

"Really? That's a wonderful idea!" Wigglytuff cheered.

"-And I'm astounded you would even ask such a, wait, WHAT?" Chatot stopped his rant to stare incredulously at his pink haired friend. "You can't be serious."

"It'll be super fun! Like the ultimate game of hide and seek mixed with a grande road trip full of thrilling adventure and-" Wigglytuff was already mapping out the mission in his head.

"Now wait just a minute! Let's have a word in your office." Chatot dragged him by the ear into the room behind them to have a serious talking to.

"...So, do we leave or what?" Corphish asked nervously. "I'm not sure I want to be here when they come out."

Several strange noises came from behind the closed doors of the office. First was the thumping and rattling that seemed to shake the whole guild, followed by some irritated groans and whiny moaning. Then came the sound of someone sobbing tremendously and cries of how life isn't fair and how 'meanie Chatot never lets him do anything he wants'. Back to more thumps and shakes before everything was silent again. Everyone looked around nervously.

"Zoom...TAH!" Wigglytuff burst open the door with a loud quake making everyone jump in their places. "Guess what everybody! We can go on the expedition!"

Once again everyone hollered out in celebration.

"But only the people chosen can go, so not everyone gets to do it." Chatot said smugly, and immediately the atmosphere dimmed. "So do your best to impress us, and maybe we'll consider you."

"Cheer up everyone! This'll be awesome!" Wigglytuff tried to cheer up the guild. "In order to do this though, we'll need everyone's cooperation to get prepared, 'k?"

"YEAH!" everyone chorused out and began scattering to get jobs.

"Okay Chupi, you ready to go to Mt. Bristle?" Blaze looked down to the pikachu.

"You bet!" She clenched her fist in anticipation.

"Oh, Blaze! Chupi!" Chatot called. "Come here. Your assistance is required."

How? HOW? She just knew this was gonna happen! She just knew it! Chatot always has to ruin everything. They should've sneaked away while they had the chance.

"Yes Chatot. We're coming..." Blaze grumbled angrily under his breath and dragged themselves over to their evil overlord.

"Now I need you two to investigate the Waterfall past the Torcoal Hot springs, there have been some rumors saying there is something special there so you need to find out what." Chatot explained briskly. "Oh, and check out with Chimecho on the way out. That is all."

"Hey Chupi, I know you were looking forward to going to Mt. Bristle but-"

"No way! This is totally cooler! Think about it Blaze! What if we discover something?"

"It's what I've always dreamed of! This is super exciting." The charmander could barely hold in his excitement. "Quick! Let's check with Chimecho and hurry down there."

"Hey Chimecho! Chatot said we needed to see you?" Chupi directed friend who was standing behind a counter nearby.

"Oh yes! Um, I've started to do an assembly. You can ask pokemon in the dungeon to join your team, if you want. I can register them here and they will be able to recruit or dismiss anyone through me." Chimecho instructed nervously.

"Really? That's cool." Blaze actually wasn't too excited about it; he didn't really want any more members. He preferred it just to be him and Chupi.

"Ah! But..." Chimecho squirmed a little and glanced over at Sunflora, who was hiding behind the ladder and giving a sly thumb up. "You can't do it until I ring the f-friendship bell!" She proceeded to heave out a long streamer of bells. Scrunching her eyes shut, she spun around and chanted 'friendship' while waving her bells around.

Damn that was cute.

Shaking their heads to try to get over the cuteness overload, Chupi and Blaze thanked Chimecho and headed to the Waterfall. Upon arriving to their destination, the two looked around but couldn't find anything out of the ordinary.

"This place seems normal enough." Blaze wandered closer to the waterfall, but was recoiled back by the sheer force of the water. "Shit! Hey Chupi, this waterfall is really strong so be careful."

"Geez, I'm not five years old, you don't have to tell me that." Chupi though, being the klutz she is, accidently slipped and brushed her arm against the raging water. "Eek!" She was pushed back to the ground.

"Chupi! Are you okay?" Blaze rushed to her side and leaned her into a sitting position in his arms. "Are you hurt?"

But Chupi couldn't answer him. She could hardly even breath and her head felt like it was throbbing when she tried to take in oxygen. Wait, where had she felt this before? Of course! This happened when she had that vision about Drowzee! She felt herself blacking out again.

"B-Blaze...it's happening again...the visions..." Chupi choked out against the pain that was rushing to her temples. She felt like screaming from the agony, but soon enough her mind had gone blank. Like someone had turned a TV on in her head, she saw a scene play out before her. A dark shadow had jumped into the waterfall and ended up in a hidden cave on the other side! But before she could see anymore, the TV had powered down and she was blinking up at her concerned partner.

"Chupi! Chupi!" Blaze, wide eyed in fear, cried out desperately for his friend.

"Y-yeah, I'm back." She answered shakily, the pain starting to wear off.

"Damn it Chupi! Don't scare me like that!" Blaze surprised Chupi by smothering her in a hug. Clutching her close to his chest, he buried his face into her neck and breathed in her mago berry scent, embedding it into his memory. He was panicking when she was squirming in pain on the ground, and fear settled into him fast. But he didn't know what to do when she suddenly went limp and cold in his arms. She looked...dead. And that terrified him most of all. "I thought you were...that I had lost..."

Slipping her eyes closed, Chupi whispered softly "I'm sorry. It's okay. W-We're okay." His warmth was making the pain slowly go away and she wrapped her arms around her neck. He smelled like cherri berries! She thought with a giggle. I guess you are what you eat. But something else was there, some sort of fiery smell. Maybe that was just _him_. Whatever it was, it made her body shiver and Blaze held her tighter. "Hey, Blaze."

"Yeah?" Blaze hummed in her ear. She pulled away enough so that she could look her partner in the face but still rested her arms on his shoulders.

"I have an idea. It may sound a little crazy, but just go with it." She took a deep breath. "I-think-we-should-jump through-the-waterfall!" She rushed out.

"Um, what?"

"I saw it. We can jump through the waterfall and there'll be a cave on the other side!" Chupi explained.

"It's not that I don't believe you, I do! It's just that it sounds weird." Blaze rubbed little circles on her bare arms and Chupi made a face. "Besides, isn't that a little dangerous? We can barely go near this thing, let alone run through it."

"We can try!" the pikachu pleaded. "C'mon! You wanted adventure, but you have to take risks in order to get it!"

"...Yeah, you're right. Y'know, I thought I had changed but I guess I'm still a wimp." Blaze down casted his eyes.

"No way! Don't you dare say that!" Chupi lightly swatted his shoulder. "Remember that you're my hero. You saved me when I was unconscious on the beach, no wimp would do that. And you always protect me from this and that. You may get scared sometimes, but that's normal. Please don't say you're a wimp."

Blaze's heart surged at her kind words and he embraced her again, startling the little pikachu. Since when was Blaze so huggy? But she accepted it never the less and returned her arms to the position they were before. She felt so comfortable just being in his arms that she felt she could fall asleep any moment. He was so warm, and his jacket felt so soft against her skin that she barely noticed that his hand was starting to creep lower down her back.

"Eek!" Chupi squeaked when she felt his hand underneath her leg. "What are you doing?" She felt herself go red in the face. He began getting up and picking her up with him, balancing her with the one hand supporting her lower half and one on her back. She automatically wrapped her legs around his waist.

"You said I'm your hero right?" Blaze started lowly.

"Well, yea-"

"And you're too small to try to jump through that waterfall right?"

"Hey! I take offense to that, even though it's true-"

"And heroes protect their girl right?" He grinned.

"I don't like where you're going with this."

"Well, I guess I'm just going to prove that I'm a hero!"

"Wait, tell me that you aren't-" Chupi protested, but it was too late. Blaze was already charging towards the waterfall, intent on hurtling both himself and his passenger through to the other side. "You idiooooot!" she screamed, but the roar of the plummeting water swallowed the sound.

Breaking through the waterfall, Team Light tumbled onto a cavern floor. Rolling to a stop, Chupi finally opened her clenched eyes to see that see was on top of her partner and clutching his jacket. Swiftly she sat up and propped herself to a sitting position on Blaze's stomach. She then began to beat on his chest with her fist.

"You dummy! What were thinking?" Chupi cried out. "What if I was wrong! And what about your tail? Don't charmanders die if the flame on their tail goes out! Are you suicidal?"

Blaze dizzily took in his surroundings, still a little frazzled from taking most of the impact when the two fell. Upon finally getting his bearings back he beamed up at Chupi and quickly sat up, sending the pikachu to the ground.

"Eek! Hey..." Chupi began rubbing her now sore tushy.

"Chupi..." He tugged her to her feet in a blink of an eye and proceeded to swing her around in circles. "Do you realize where we are? We did it!" He laughed out joyously.

Suddenly it dawned on her; the cave that she had predicted was real! And since Chatot didn't know about it, then that must mean-

"We discovered a hidden dungeon!" Chupi then joined in his celebration, jumping up and down around the little clearing they were in. "I guess we're finally living up to our name: Team Light. We're finally real explorers!" She threw her hands up and gave a little twirl.

"It's what I've always dreamed of since I was little..." Blaze glanced at his badge in happiness. "I always wanted to be one of those explorers that I heard on the news or saw posters of. And now I'm really doing it."

Chupi was trying, and failing, to hold back a smile. She couldn't help but imagine a little five-year-old Blaze pretending to be an explorer and swinging around a wooden sword. It was too cute! Not being able to contain herself anymore, she pounced onto the charmander.

"Ack-Chupi?" He barely caught her surprise attack.

"You're so cute sometimes." She reached up on her tippy toes to pat his head.

"You're supposed to be the cute one..." Blaze grumbled and looked to the side, removing her hand from his hair.

She had to duck her head down to cover the blush that was forming.

"Do you want to report what we found to Chatot, or go ahead and explore the cave?" He pointed ahead to the entrance of the dungeon.

"Is that a trick question? Let's go!" Chupi ran ahead, quickly getting over her embarrassment, so she could lead the way.

Oh, how Blaze would regret this decision.

**Teehee, I'm so evil for leaving you guys this way. I know one person could predict what happens next, but for the rest of you; I guess you'll just have to find out what happens when I stop being lazy and update. Mwahaha.**

**By the way; did anyone else think that it was about to get pervy when Blaze picked Chupi up and his 'hand creeped down her back'? Haha.**


	13. Chapter 12

…**Oh. My. Mew. I thought I posted this chapter months ago, but when I went to post chapter 13 I noticed I forgot to post this chapter. I could have sworn I posted this last October. Oops. I guess this explains why I never got any reviews or even a confirmation email. My bad. Well, good news is that means I have this chapter and the next one already written up. Heheheh…**

**By the way, a certain someone should be happy with this chapter. Thanks for helping me with Erick pokeluver kassey36! :)**

**Disclaimer: Pokemon is not mine, and probably never will be. The sooner I accept this fact, the sooner I will stop writing fanfiction. Which will be never.**

**Team Light: Chasing Away the Darkness**

**Chapter 12**

"Why are there so many damn Poliwags?!" Blaze yelled in frustration. "All they do is shoot bubbles at you or put you to sleep with hypnosis. They are so annoying." He turned to scratch down another one that had come around the corner. "They're _everywhere_!"

"C'mon Blaze, there's only a few more floors, I can feel it!" Chupi hoped to improve the charmander's mood.

"How do you know that? This is the first time anyone has explored this cave." He smiled briefly at that.

"Who's the one with weirdo psychic powers here? That would be me." In truth she had no idea how long this dungeon was, but he didn't need to know that.

"Really? You can tell? That's so cool!" His eyes nearly sparkled with excitement.

"Hey. What's that ahead of us?" Chupi pointed to what looked like a large mob of Whiscash and Lotads.

"Oh shit. Someone must have accidentally set off a monster house!" Blaze's eyebrows creased as he gazed at the herd of water types ahead of him. Chupi gave him a look to explain further. "Oh, um, a monster house is when a large group of pokemon attack all at once. They corner you in an ambush."

"But doesn't that mean all those pokemon are teaming up against one person? We have to help them!" Chupi realized alarmed.

"You're right! Let's go!" Blaze was already running towards the crowd, but was pulled back before he could attack.

"Sssh Blaze!" Chupi slapped one hand over his mouth to muffle his protest and gripped his jacket with the other. "We need a plan! Don't run in there all reckless and get yourself killed."

He stopped resisting her and gave a small nod.

"Good. I think I have an idea..."

..

"Hyaaaaaaaaah!" Blaze let out a ferocious battle cry as he charged to the center of the room. Effectively gaining the attention of the room, he started preforming fire tricks.

"Hey! Looky here at what I can do!" He formed little fireballs and juggled them through the air.

The whiscash seemed plenty content to watch the show Blaze was giving, but the lotad didn't seem to be buying it as they began sauntering towards him.

But suddenly they all gave a long keen of pain and dropped to the floor unconscious.

Blaze silently thanked Chupi as her shock wave finally came through, zapping all the lotad into slumber. He continued his act; tossing his fireballs into the air and swallowing them in three gulps. Chupi meanwhile slowly worked her way behind the remaining group of whiscash that unfortunately were dual ground-type and immune to her electric attacks.

"Tada!" Blaze announced when he successfully created little fire butterfrees that soared through the air above him. Through the flames he could just barely see his partner slowly taking out the whiscash one at a time while they were distracted. She would slam into one, then springboard off of him to flip onto the next one; digging her heels into their back and knocking them out before pouncing another. All of this went unnoticed as the whiscash were too enamored by Blaze's performance to see their buddies being attacked behind them.

Finally Chupi managed to dwindle the group down to only two. Without warning, Blaze stopped his fire show and launched himself at the last couple of whiscash and quickly dispatched them with a scratch attack.

Chupi slumped over in exhaustion.

"Hey, are you okay? You were awesome out there!" He rushed to her side and leaned her against a rock. He was beyond impressed that she was able to single handedly take out a whole monster house by herself. But then again this was his partner we're talking about here. Only Chupi could do this.

"Y-Yeah. I'm fine. They were attacking that guy over there, but he was already out cold when I got to him." She brought her hand up to notion the unconscious man flung awkwardly in the corner. "He needs medical attention."

Blaze held out his hand and heaved the tired girl to her feet. Making their way towards the man it began to become clear that he was severely misplaced. What was a sandslash doing in a damp cave behind a waterfall? His long, spikey brunette hair fell to his waist and he had two spronged claws that extended from each of his hands that revealed his species. Blaze's skin was tanned from spending long hours in the outdoors, but this stranger had the light mocha complexion that could only come naturally. It frankly made Chupi a little jealous, being so pale herself.

It was apparent that he had put up a long fight, but being at an obvious disadvantage he was overcome. Battered and bruised, although maybe a little better off than the pile of whiscash behind them, the man was covered in small cuts and welts from dealing with the water types. But the worst of it was his wrist, which was concluded to be badly sprained if not broken.

"Here, I'll wrap it." Blaze took the medical kit out of Chupi's bag (which he had been holding on to during the attack), and began carefully dressing the wound. Meanwhile Chupi busied herself with trying to clean his cuts with her towel on the other side.

Dampening the cloth with her water bottle, she slowly began patting at the long cut on his cheek. It was unfortunate that at that moment the sandslash decided to jolt his eyes open.

"Eeek!" Chupi scampered backwards in shock. "Oh you're awake. That scared me..."

Chupi put a hand over her chest as she tried to calm down her racing heart.

"Morning there!" Blaze addressed the sandslash. "You were ambushed by a monster house, and got knocked out."

"I didn't get knocked out. They threw a sleep seed at me." the sandslash hoarsely answered, hissing as he sat up. Ah, that explains how he didn't get evicted from the dungeon.

"Well, my name is Chupi and he's Blaze." Chupi scooted back to her previous position and began disinfecting his cheek again. "What's yours?"

Suddenly the sandslash grabbed her tiny hand is his.

"Ah, you must be an angel come to save me." He put on his most debonair smile and with half lidded eyes he leaned towards her. "For only something from heaven could be this beautiful."

Dropping the towel, Chupi froze.

Then he brought her hand up to gently brush his lips against her knuckle.

And her brain snapped.

Snatching her hand back, Chupi propelled herself away from the stranger and scrambled to her feet. Her limbs felt sluggish and she struggled to emit words from her mouth. "Ah-ah-ah-"

"Get away from her!" Blaze leaped over the sandslash's legs to reach his partner.

Wrapping one protective arm around the small pikachu's shoulders, he lit up his other hand into a flaming fist poised threateningly towards the offender. Chupi was spun around in his grasp so that her face was forced into the orange jacket that he wore.

"Hey now. No need to get so touchy." The sandslash gave a huff as he made to stand.

"Back down, whoever you are!" Blaze pulled Chupi closer and reached his fiery fist further towards the stranger's face. Both the flames on Blaze's tail and the ones engulfing his hand grew in intensity.

"My name's Erick. Jeez, calm it down would ya?" Erick held his arms up in surrender before a smirk formed on his lips. "Besides, you wouldn't hurt an injured man."

"I'm not above that." Blaze's glare didn't waver.

"Blmpz! Aphr! Aphr!" Chupi's voice was muffled by the soft fabric of his jacket and she waved her arms around frantically.

"Hmm? What is it?" Blaze loosened his grip so she could speak.

"AIR!" Chupi gasped and clutched her heaving chest. "I thought I was going to die, I couldn't breathe!"

Blaze jumped to give her room but patted her back gently as she took deep, shuddering breaths.

"I'm so sorry! I got carried away! I'm so so so sorry!" Blaze jumbled out.

"It's...its fine Blaze. I should be saying thank you." Chupi gained her composure and stood straighter.

"Still, I'm really sorry!" Blaze continued his string of apologies before he was cut off.

"I'm still here you know." Erick brought the duo's attention back to him.

"Oh yea. Well, glad to see you're not dead. We'll be leaving now." Blaze once again put his arm around Chupi, although much more carefully this time, and started leading her back down the path. Tossing his free arm up in a noncommittal wave he called out a final: "Bye!"

"How exactly am I supposed to get out of here with a broken wrist?!" Erick shouted from behind.

"You'll figure it out." Blaze grumbled back.

"Blaze." Chupi started softly. "We can't just leave him. It's our job to help him."

"But Chupi-"

"No buts! Please?" Chupi gave him the doey eyed look.

He was helpless against it.

"Fine. But he walks out front where I can see him!" Blaze agreed.

"Jeez, you don't have to make me feel like a criminal. Although, the ladies do love a bad boy." Erick waggled his eyebrows towards Chupi, to which she cowered behind a glaring Blaze.

"Just walk." Blaze grumbled. Erick shrugged and stuffed his hands in his pockets before shuffling forward.

"Psst, Blaze." Chupi tugged his jacket so he would lean down and she could cup her hand to his ear. "What do you think about bringing him to the guild?"

"I don't know. I don't trust him." He whispered back.

"Yeah, but it's the only place we can get his wrist checked out."

"Let's just keep the girls away from him." Blaze gave the sandslash a sideways glance. "He seems like a creep."

"If you guys are done whispering about me, we have company." Erick called back to the duo. Blaze and Chupi jumped in place and looked ahead to see yet another Poliwag approaching.

"I'll do it." Chupi announced and let out a thundershock, instantly bringing the water type to its knees. Chupi stumbled back, feeling lightheaded after so many electric attacks.

"You okay, Chupi?" Blaze grabbed her arm to stabilize her.

"Yeah, but I think I'll have to stick to using tackle for a while." Chupi continued forward.

"Okay, but just in case take this oran berry. It might help." Blaze put the blue berry into her hand.

"S-sure. Thanks Blaze!" She took a large bite and moaned in content. "This is good. Let's keep going."

Erick looked at the exchange with peaked interest. Boredom disappeared from his face and a sudden smirk replaced it.

"I'm feeling pretty weak myself, mind if I have a nibble of that?" Erick leered over the pikachu but made no advances towards the berry.

"If you're strong enough to act creepy, then you're strong enough to keep walking." Blaze cut in and pushed Erick forward again.

"Hmph, what does a guy have to do to have some fun around here." The sandslash pouted but sent a teasing glance back at Blaze.

Apparently Chupi wasn't too far off in her prediction of where the dungeon would end because in just a couple stairs up they found a small clearing indicating the final floor. It was a small cave, just as damp as the rest of the dungeon, but imbedded into the walls were thousands of small jewels. The light from Blaze's tail reflected off the gems to create shimmering rainbows across the cavern.

"…This is beautiful." Chupi stepped forward to surround herself in the glistening lights and get a better look at a particularly pretty amethyst on the eastern wall.

"This is such a huge find Chupi. I know Chatot wanted us to find something interesting, but this will definitely impress him." Blaze kept his voice at a quiet hush as to not ruin the tranquil atmosphere.

"Meh, I've seen better." Erick abruptly interrupted the two before he started to clean dirt out of his claws in disinterest. Blaze shot him a look before his eyes became as round as dinner plates.

"Chupi! Look over here!" Blaze dashed forward to the very back of the cavern.

Gosh, how'd she miss that?

Sitting next to Blaze was a large ruby that was partially buried into the ground. Even though it was half way covered, Chupi could tell that it had to be at least the size of her head. She was flabbergasted.

"Humina humina humina…is that what I think it is?" Chupi stared dumbly at the gem.

"We should take it with us! We could give it to Chatot as a piece offering, or keep it as a souvenir, or we could sell it! Chupi, we could be rich!" Blaze's eyes glimmered with the possibilities.

And it wasn't like Chupi was going to reject the idea.

"Psh!" Erick guffawed. "I'd like to see you try and get it out, weakling." He turned his head and sneered at Blaze through the corner of his eye.

"Just watch!" Blaze angrily retorted and bent down to get the ruby out. "This will be a piece of cake for a hero!"

Tug.

Tug.

Tug tug.

Tugtugtugtugtug.

"Why. Won't. You. Come. OUT?!" Blaze gave one final tug before he resorted to kicking, biting, and punching the ruby in frustration.

"I guess I have to help the baby. You're doing it all wrong." Erick stepped up to Blaze and folded his arms.

"Oh? And how would you do it?" Blaze was already in a bad mood, and he didn't need this jerk making it worse.

"Obviously you should break up the soil around it to loosen up its hold. I'll do it for you since you're probably incapable of even this." Erick trust down his good arm to try to dig at the ground but recoiled back as his claw bounced off the surface. "The heck? Is this made of rock?"

"No duh. It's a cave, genius."

"You wanna fight, wise guy?!" Erick stood to stand eye level to Blaze.

"Bring it!" Blaze met his gaze and lit his fist on fire again.

"Stop it you guys!" Chupi pushed her way in between the two. "We should work together to get it out. Arguing won't get this thing out any faster." She lightly patted the large ruby.

"Ulgh, fine." Blaze gave in and slumped his shoulders in defeat. "You're right."

"Anything for you." The sandslash gave a devilish wink, and Blaze simply groaned.

"So how do you suppose we get it out Chupi?" Blaze glanced back at the jewel and tried thinking of a plan.

"I'm not too…sure." Chupi became suddenly woozy and began swaying back and forth as her feet couldn't support her. A pain shot to her temples like someone was holding a jackhammer to her head and she had to bite her lip to keep from screaming.

"Chupi?" Blaze looked over his shoulder to his partner in question.

"Not again…" Chupi's vision was quickly becoming darker and her legs gave out underneath her. The last thing she saw was Blaze reaching out for her before darkness finally consumed her.

"Chupi!" Blaze dived forward to catch the small pikachu before her head hit the ground. "Chupi, is it happening again?" But it was too late. Chupi had already become limp and cold in his arms. "No…"

"What just happened?!" Erick crouched down in beside the two and gawked at Chupi. "Merciful Mew! Is she dead?!"

"No. This just happens form time to time." He gently swept the bangs on her forehead out of her face.

She hated it when it happened. She absolutely hated it. These freaky visions always set her on edge. They always came at random moments and left her on the ground writhing in pain. As per usual, the darkness of Chupi's mind disappeared as if a television screen was turned on.

She once again saw the same shadow as before, only it was in the same room they were in. She was forced to watch as the shadow…pushed the giant ruby? With a click of the gem, the room began to rumble and the shadow was swept away by a flood produced by pushing the jewel. That was it. In a blink of an eye, the darkness returned and she opened her eyes to see Erick and Blaze gazing at her.

"Sorry about that." She winced as she sat up.

"Don't worry, it's not like you can control it." Blaze reached out to smooth her ruffled hair. "Are you okay?"

She could feel his hand trembling in her hair.

"I'm fine. It wasn't a painful as last time." She touched his hand in order to calm him down. "But we shouldn't touch the ruby, if we do-"

"Does someone want to explain what the hell just happened?" Erick crossed his arms and leaned against the ruby.

"Don't!" Chupi cried.

Click!

"What was that?" Erick lurched himself away from the ruby just as the room began rumble.

"Is this an earthquake? What was that clicking noise?"

Fear settled into Chupi's stomach as she realized what was going to happen next. She took one look at Blaze's confused face before resting her gaze onto his flaming tail.

"Run!" Chupi began to push Blaze with all her might towards the exit. When the flood rushes in here, Blaze's tail is sure to go out. She remembered reading that when a charmander's tail goes out, it dies. "Hurry! You need to get out of here!"

She could already hear the sounds of the rushing water coming for them.

"Chupi, what's going on?" He remained in his place as Chupi wasn't strong enough to move him.

"Is that a flood-"Erick was cut off as gushing water mowed him down.

Blaze spun around to grab Chupi, but the stream had pushed them apart as they were forced to go where the water took them.

Chupi struggled in vain to stay on the surface and not go under, but it was hopeless to fight the strong current. She tried her hardest to catch a glimpse of her partner but all she could see was Erick thrashing about ahead of her.

Finally she was able to stick her head up and after sputtering out water and quickly catching her breath she called out for Blaze. No luck. She screamed for him again and again till her throat went raw, but it was useless. How long had they been stuck in this torrent? Minutes? Hours? It seemed like it was forever ago since she last had seen Blaze alive with both feet on solid ground, and she feared the worst had become of him.

No, she had to think positive! He was alive and somehow didn't let his tail become submerged in the icy cave water. They would somehow get out of this and somehow go home and somehow everything would be hunky dory again. Somehow.

She had managed to stay in the middle of the current and away from the rough walls but feared that Blaze wasn't as lucky. She recalled the storm on the night that she became a pokemon. She remembered becoming trapped in the white water that thrashed her body against the cliff and a cold chill ran through her spine when she thought her beloved partner could be going through the same.

At times like this she really wished that she had transformed into a Jirachi instead of a Pikachu. Couldn't they grant wishes? She would wish that they were all safe and together. She would wish that Blaze's dream of being a top explorer would come true. But, if she was a Jirachi, wouldn't she have just wished that she would become human again? She would have never met Blaze then. Or Sunflora or Chimecho or even Wigglytuff and Chatot. She would regret that. But right now she would trade all of that if it meant that Blaze would be safe. This brought another surge of strength to her as she began to try finding her partner again.

She could barely tell that Erick had his head above water in front of her, but still no sign of Blaze. She was relieved when she saw that at least he was safe, but it was hardly any consolation if Blaze wasn't…She became frantic in her search. But the darkness of the tunnel made her as blind as sack of tamatos and her panicked voice just echoed off the walls until it merged into a solid incomprehensible sound. Even that was beginning to be drowned out by a loud whooshing noise.

Wait. A loud whooshing noise?

Of course, this was the waterfall cave. There had to be a waterfall at some point.

Chupi didn't know whether to be relieved or scared out of her mind at the realization. It had to mean that their torrent ride of terror would be over soon, which was good, but who knows what kind of end it would be. It could have sharp rocks at the bottom or crush them or worse. But she didn't have too much time to think about the possibilities because she could see a light approaching them up ahead.

She found herself being thrown into the air. Before being blinded by the sun she was able to comprehend that the force of the water actually propelled them out the side of the cliff.

She knew this feeling. It felt familiar to her. The sensation of barreling towards the Earth was not new to her. But why?

It hit her: the night that she came here! It was still fuzzy but was coming back to her. She remembered a man's voice and then plummeting into the sea. Then she woke up and met Blaze…Blaze! Where is he?!

She had been closing her eyes because the sunlight had forced them shut but squinted her eyes open. She instantly regretted it as the wind stung her eyes as she plummeted downwards, but kept them open nonetheless.

She was facing away from the sun and could see Erick with his eyes scrunched together and braced for impact. She attempted to flip over, and after a few embarrassing attempts at waving her arms around, she managed to do it.

There he was. She knew that bright orange hoodie anywhere. She almost smiled but looking more closely she could see some things were wrong. He was completely relaxed in the free fall, eyes shut like he was sleeping and mouth slightly ajar. She could see a trail of blood starting from his temple and flowing down to his jawline.

She finally let herself look where she feared the most. Tears filled her eyes, blurring her vision more but she couldn't look away once she saw it. A sob left her throat but the painful noise was swallowed in the vacuum of air as they descended.

The fire on his tail was out.

Completely extinguished.

Gone.

**So, uh, yeah. Tada. The next chapter will be up soon so bear with me please.**

**Thank you!**

**Just a side note; all that last bit happened in midair. It seems like time went really slowly, but some of the stuff (like the flashback) happened instantaneously. They really are falling off the side of a cliff. Chupi just doesn't seem to register it because of her other priorities. (like her partner)**

**Chalala-chan**


	14. Chapter 13

**I'm back! Thanks for all the reviews, and I apologise for my absense. On the bright side though, it's been over a year since I began writing this, so yay!**

**Team Light: Chasing Away the Darkness**

**Chapter 13**

Chupi barely choked out another inaudible sob before she came crashing into the water. It wasn't so bad this time as it was about a month ago. She hadn't fallen from as great a height and the water was warm and inviting unlike the frigidness of the open sea during a storm. It still stung her back when she hit the water, but she's been through worse. The pain was only physical. Something that would go away with time, but nothing compared to pain she was feeling inside. She actually welcomed the stinging ache; it momentarily took her mind off of her partner.

Another splash brought her back to reality and she looked over to see that it was Blaze that landed next to her in the lake. She quickly grabbed his arm to keep him afloat and started tugging him towards the bank. It was hard though. She was exhausted from fighting in the dungeon and being carried down a river, and the warm lake they were in was deep and she couldn't feel the bottom. Trying to move Blaze and keep his head above water without drowning herself was proving difficult.

Suddenly half of Blaze's weight was lifted from her shoulders and glanced to her left to see that Erick was helping her tug his other arm. She mumbled a quick thanks and he nodded his head in return. She could see other pokemon around her, but ignored them. A couple of mankeys though grabbed Blaze's legs to help and assisted her in getting his body on land. A crowd soon formed around them as she got on her knees next to her partner.

"Blaze…" Chupi murmured, although her voice was hoarse, and softly touched Blaze's cheek. "Please wake up. Please?" Her voice got high and squeaky at the end. She was glad that her hair was dripping water into her face so that she could hide her tears.

"Does anyone know CPR?" Erick glanced around at the other pokemon, but no one spoke up. "I'm sure he's fine Chupi. Other than his head wound he seems to be fine." The sandslash rested a hand on her shoulder.

"But don't you see his tail?!" Chupi quickly wheeled on him. "He's…He's…" She couldn't finish her sentence and threw her head down onto Blaze to cry.

Apparently that one blow to his diaphragm was enough to make the charmander start sputtering out water and shoot his eyes open. Chupi jolted off him to see that he was coffing into his sleeve and very much alive.

"Uugh…Chupi, where are we? My head hurts." Blaze groaned, rubbing his temple with one hand and propping himself on his elbow. Upon seeing that the stranger pokemon was alright, the crowd around them dispersed and went back to what they were doing.

"Blaze…? Blaze. Blaze!" Chupi madly grinned and tackled the poor guy so he was flat on his back again and knocking his breath away from the impact. "You're alive, you're alive, you're alive!" She repeated like a prayer and wrapped her arms tighter around his neck.

"Why wouldn't I be? I think I hit my head, but it doesn't feel like anything serious." He bent up into a sitting position, bring her with him. Erick watched with interested eyes.

"But…But your tail. It went out. Actually it's still out! You…Shouldn't you be dead? I thought Charmanders die when their fire goes out." She got off him and gave him a confused look.

Blaze had to quickly cover his mouth with his palm to stifle his laughter, but Erick was already on the floor holding his stomach and roaring.

"W-What?!" Erick said through giggles. Some of the nearby pokemon that heard them were snickering quietly to themselves. "You-hahaha-thought what?!"

"They don't? But everyone always said…" Chupi looked down in embarrassment. Even Blaze couldn't hold it in anymore and was rolling next to Erick, their disdain for each other temporarily forgotten as they patted each other's shoulders to help each other catch their breath. Geez, it wasn't that funny.

"Those myths were made up by ten year old brat trainers! O-only humans believe t-that crap!" Erick roared even harder. "S-stop it! All this laughing h-hurts!"

"Well, excuse me." Chupi puffed up her cheeks in annoyance and crossed her arms angrily. She is only human. Sometimes it's hard to remember that a pikachu isn't her true form.

"Sorry for laughing Chupi." Blaze said apologetically and rubbed his hand on her head, his fingers getting caught on many tangles. He knew her mistake was just an innocent blunder. She didn't know any better.

She couldn't stay too mad for long as she was still in a state of slight euphoria from Blaze being alive. But any other situation she might ignore him for the rest of the day in an angered huff. She let out the air she was holding and her shoulders drooped in release. Her hands fell to her lap.

"While it's true that when I die my tail will go out, I won't die because my tail went out. Although, it does hurt a bit, so I prefer to keep it dry."

"Oh. I guess that makes sense."

Erick was still laughing and Chupi sent him a quick glare. But before she could knock some sense into the sandslash she was interrupted by a very old and very naked torkoal approaching them. Chupi immediately averted her eyes but everywhere she looked was more nude pokemon!

Why does no one have clothes on?

Oh mew, that primape should really keep his shirt on. Chupi mentally gagged.

How did she not notice this before? She guessed she was so preoccupied with her partner that it didn't register.

Her hands shot up to shield her eyes and she turned her head so that she could only see the grass. But wait, shouldn't she just look him in the eye and keep her gaze above the horizon? Too late now. If she tried looking up she might get an eyeful of something she'd rather not have scar her for the rest of her life.

(a/n just so you know, in my pokemon universe I imagine most pokemon being completely comfortable with nudity between genders. They would only get embarrassed under certain situations. i.e., romantically. Chupi is a human so she's somewhat prudish in comparison.)

"Welcome, welcome newcomers! I am Mr. Torkoal and this is the Torkoal Hot Springs that I run." He gestured to the warm waters with a wrinkly arm.

"What?! Torkoal Hot Springs?!" Blaze began digging into Chupi's backpack and got out a crumpled map. Quickly unfolding it, Blaze pointed his finger to the waterfall they were at before. Chupi carefully let her eyes go to the paper. "We started here." He dragged his finger across a long trail and stopped when he reached a lake. "And now we're here. That flood must have carried us all the way down here!"

"Damn." Erick let out a low whistle in appreciation.

"That's quite the journey there." Mr. Torkoal glanced over to see the map, coming much too close for Chupi's comfort. She almost blanched at the thought of what was just over her shoulder. "But you folks are welcome to stay and rest your weary bones if you'd like. My hot springs are open for anyone." He gave weathered smile before leaving them.

"Oh, I d-don't know. Erick, is your wrist okay? And Blaze, we should get that head wound looked at." Chupi did not want to stay.

"Chupi, I'm fine!" Blaze stood to prove his point. "Besides, a little R&R will be good for us."

"But, Erick needs medical attention, don't you?" The pikachu looked at him with pleading eyes. He was her last chance.

"I'm pretty sure my wrist is just sprained and warm water will help it feel better. Although, I should put ice on it first. But, I think that lady Slugma is calling me." He nodded his head to a particularly curvy fire-type pokemon who was taking a dip. "It'd be rude of me to keep a lady waiting." And with that he headed off, stripping his clothes along the way.

Chupi ducked her head down in disappointment. There went her last hope to get out of here. She was quickly taken out her thoughts when she heard a zipper being undone behind her. She slowly turned her head.

"So, I guess it's just you and me now." There stood Blaze, orange jacket on the ground and yellow undershirt in the process of getting over his head, leaving him half naked.

"Nahuhblena- stop it!" Chupi violent shook her head in protest, frantically waving her hands in front of her to block the view. Not that she didn't appreciate what he had to offer, if you know what I mean. She felt dizzy from the blood that quickly rushed to her face. This was all too much for her.

"Huh? What?" Blaze stopped in his tracks; one thumb inside the waistband of his pants and the other reaching for his belt.

"Please. Please stop stripping." Chupi muttered embarrassed.

"…Okay?" Blaze was confused. This was normal for him. Why was she all finicky about getting undressed? Most pokemon only get like that if they _like_ each other. Does she…?

He suddenly felt himself get hot with embarrassment himself.

"Um, I think this in another human thing. We don't normally, um, bathe together or take off our clothes…especially with other genders."

"Ah, okay. I guess we can swim with our clothes on." Blaze felt oddly conflicted by this. He was relieved but…disappointed? This isn't like him. Why should he be disappointed?

"Thank you. Is there any place that doesn't have others? A secluded place? I'm too afraid to look." Chupi was still covering her eyes.

"Let's see…" Blaze took a moment to look around for a spot before his eyes rested on a little area behind some rocks and away from the crowd. "Over there looks good. C'mon Chupi, I'll take you there."

He plucked his jacket off the ground and plopped it on her head so she wouldn't see anything as he lead her behind the rocks.

"Okay, here we are. All safe." Blaze took back his jacket and started hanging his wet clothes on a tree branch. He quickly slipped out of his pants and hung those as well. "Um, you don't mind do you? Wet jeans are a nightmare to be in."

"Yeah it's okay. Your underwear looks enough like shorts anyway." Chupi still kept her eyes on the ground but snuck little peaks every now and then. "I have a swimsuit in my backpack so I'll go change in the bushes okay?"

"Sure. I'll keep guard."

'And make sure that Erick stays far away.' Blaze mentally added.

Slipping into the tree line, Chupi took out her swimsuit and began to get changed. It was the same simple red one piece that Sunflora had lent to her last night in the bathes. She giggled when thinking about receiving the gift.

_"You can keep it Chupi." Sunflora pressed the suit back into Chupi's hands as they were heading back to their bedrooms after their bath._

_"Are you sure? I'd really appreciate it, but I'm starting to feel like I'm stealing all your clothes."_

_"Don't sweat it! I have more than one and I've been meaning to go shopping. I heard that Loudred's favorite color is blue, so I was going to buy a blue swim suit to seduce him!" Sunflora giggled at her own genius._

_"When would he see you in a swimsuit?"_

_"Oh, I'd make sure he'd see it. I'll put it on, march straight to his room, and ask how I look in it. If I'm lucky maybe his friends would be there and he'll get jealous! Or maybe it'd be better if he's alone so I can put on a private show…"_

_"Sunflora! Too much information!" Chupi blushed and swatted her friend's arm._

Chupi thought Sunflora was a little daring, but she was proud to know that Sunflora was brave enough to try her best and put herself out there for the one she loved. Chupi on the other hand…

It's not that she didn't feel brave. She could kick any dungeon's butt any day of the week! She just felt self-conscious of herself all the time. She was technically a human. She has weird visions. She has no memories. She was a freak. She would make mistakes all the time because she wasn't a real pokemon, like when she didn't know about charmander tails. She also probably acted really strange to other pokemon. Erick just hopped into the hot springs while she had to find a corner away from everybody else like some prepubescent child who wasn't mature enough to handle a few naked pokemon. And even then she was still changing into a swimsuit to cover herself.

She looked down at the suit as she pulled up the straps. She wasn't entirely fond of the piece but it was a gift from her friend so she couldn't turn a free outfit. The bright red color called unwanted attention to her. Even if she did like the color, she didn't want to be covered in it. The front dipped too low for her liking and the back was merely strips of material that were spaced widely enough to make her wonder what their purpose was, because it was clearly not for covering her up. Sunflora said it was for style, but Chupi was more of a practical girl. At least it was a one piece and not some skimpy bikini that would fly off as soon as she got in the water.

After making some small adjustments Chupi sighed and tossed her bag over her shoulder.

"Blaze! It's safe!" Chupi called as she began emerging from the bushes.

"Oh good, I was starting to get worried…" Blaze stopped talking once he got a better view of her. Was she always this pretty? He found himself staring more when she set her bag on the ground and bent over to get her wet clothes out to hang on the tree branch next to his.

"Okay! All ready." Chupi turned around to face him and he quickly averted his eyes to the water behind him.

"Y-Yeah. Let's go."

"You okay? What's wrong?" Chupi padded over quickly to her partner, who was striding purposefully towards the hot spring.

"Nothing, just…"

'Just that I'm starting to regret seeing you like this. I can't even look you in the eyes!' Blaze started wondering if it'd be any better if she hadn't stopped him before and was naked.

Well, that made his blush about ten times worse.

But she was his friend! His partner! He shouldn't be all embarrassed over seeing her in a swimsuit. He used to go to Torkoal Hot Springs when he was little and he's seen a lot worse than just a swim suit. That calmed him down a little.

"Just…?" Chupi repeated.

"Just…you look good." He reached behind him without looking at her and patted her head.

"Huh? Oh, thanks." Chupi mumbled bashfully. They silently slipped into the warm water after the exchange and sat on a natural rock seat by the edge. Chupi began to try and detangle her hair as Blaze washed the blood from his face. They soaked in the warmth and tranquil atmosphere as they relaxed and took a moment just to enjoy each other's company.

"So, um." Chupi interrupted the silence. "Sorry you have to babysit me."

"What do you mean?"

"Well you know." Chupi curled up in a ball. "You could have hung out with the other pokemon but because I'm such a weirdo you had to look after me."

"What are you talking about? I'd rather be with you than some total strangers. And you're not weird."

Chupi gave him a disbelieving look.

"Okay, you're a little weird. But, a lot of pokemon don't bathe naked with others. It's mostly a local thing or a family thing."

"Did you?" Chupi thought back to when he was taking off his clothes to get with them.

"Well, yeah. I used to go here when I was little." Blaze looked down into the water. "With my mom."

"Your mom? You've never mentioned her. You haven't really mentioned much of your past at all really." Chupi knew she was trenching into dangerous waters, but she couldn't help her curiosity.

"Yeah, my dad was an explorer in another region, but he was killed on duty and my mom and I moved here. It's one of the reasons I wanted to be an explorer. My dad was one of the greatest guys I knew."

Chupi scooted closer to link arms with him and lean her head on his shoulder. It was probably hard for him to talk about this, the least she could do was show that she cared and was there for him.

"I grew up in Treasure Town, but since my mom wasn't in a guild and she didn't own a shop we were pretty much outcast. Treasure Town's entire community revolves around the guild. It was just me and mom until she passed away. Then I was on my own."

"Where did you go?" Chupi asked. She never knew the town could be so harsh. She had never really had an opportunity to look around since Blaze and her usually went straight to the gym, dropped by the bank and went back to the guild. But, she didn't really like the sound of this place. Would she have been shunned too if she hadn't joined Blaze?

"Maybe another time." And with that Blaze dropped the subject. But Chupi was pleased that she had learned at least this much about her partner. If she thought about it she didn't know much about him at all!

"Well Blaze. Can you at least tell me your favorite food?"

"Easy. Anything with cheri berries! Especially cheri cookies." Ah, that explains why he always wolfs them down by the handful.

"Uh, if you were-"

"Nuhuh! Since we're asking questions, I get to ask some." Blaze interrupted her next question." What's your favorite food?"

"I guess I like mago berries. Sweets really. As long as it's not bitter I'll eat it. Now it's my turn! If you were a different pokemon, what would you be?"

"Hmmm…a charizard!" Blaze answered enthusiastically.

"That's your evolved form though."

"There's no rule against it. What about you? What pokemon would you be?"

"A ditto!" Chupi replied without hesitation. "So I can be all the pokemon!"

"That's a total cop out!"

"If you can be a charizard, then I can be a ditto."

"Deal. What's your favorite color?"

"You skipped my turn! But…" She looked up into his eyes. The same color as the cloudless sky above them. She always loved that color. "Blue. Sky blue."

"I really like red. A bright fiery red!"

"R-Red huh?" She looked nervously down at her own swimsuit.

_"Don't sweat it! I have more than one and I've been meaning to go shopping. I heard that Loudred's favorite color is blue, so I was going to buy a blue swim suit to seduce him!" Sunflora giggled at her own genius._

Why should she care? It's not like she's trying to seduce Blaze or something. But it did make her feel a little tingly to know she was wearing his color.

"Yep, just like your hair ribbon and your face right now." Blaze teased and poked her in the cheek.

"S-Shut up." Chupi mumbled and moved away from him.

They decided to let the awkward die down a bit before they tried to start conversation again.

"…Hey Chupi, I've been wondering. Before the flood, what was the vision you had?" Blaze asked.

"I saw a shadow, the same shadow that jumped through the waterfall from the other vision, press down on the ruby before being swept away by a flood. That was it. That's why I was trying to push you down the steps before we all got caught in the water. Not that it worked. Sorry Blaze. Does your head still hurt?"

"Not at all. It was just a scrape. Head wounds always bleed a lot so it looked worse than what it was."

"That's good. But something keeps bothering me." Chupi leaned back to look at the sky. "That shadow figure seems so familiar. Like I know him."

"Maybe it's someone from your past?!"

"No." Chupi said dejectedly. "It's someone I know now. I can feel it."

She ran a list of people through her head. Sunflora? No. Corphish? No. Chatot? No…Then it hit her.

"Wigglytuff!"

"Wigglytuff?"

"Yeah! It matches perfectly! Not everyone has those bunny ears, and imagine who'd be weird enough to try to jump through a waterfall, discover a cave and then forget to tell anyone about it. It has to be Wigglytuff! But Blaze you know what this means don't you?"

"Arrgh, we weren't the first ones to discover the cave. Well, there goes my fortune and fame." Blaze groaned. "But it'd be wrong for us to take credit where it isn't due so I guess we'll have to tell the truth."

Chupi was rather proud that he was honest, even when he could gain more if he lied.

"How do we explain how we know? I don't think Chatot would believe us if we told him everything about my visions." Chupi pondered.

"I'm sure we can fake our way out of it when the time comes." Blaze crossed his arms to think.

"Ick, speaking of Chatot; how do you think he'll react to us bring Erick?"

"I was hoping you'd forget about him and we leave him here to be with his new girlfriend." Blaze grumbled.

"Blaze! You know we have to take him back. He hurt his wrist." Chupi argued.

"I know. I was only hoping."

"I think we've spent long enough here. Do you want to get dressed and grab Erick?"

"Sure."

The duo climbed out and grabbed their considerably drier clothes from off the branch and began getting dressed.

"I'll just go in the bushes again." Chupi stepped into the tree line to change.

"Okay." Blaze waited until she was gone to address his own clothing situation. He looked down at his wet underwear in dismay until he came up with an idea. He suddenly increased his body temperature until the cloth was dry. It's times like these he was very thankful to be a fire type. He just repeated the process on the rest of his clothes where they were still wet to dry them.

"I'm done!" Chupi called and came out of the bushes. "This is kind of gross, they're still wet." Chupi tried patting dry some of the wetter spots but nothing really worked.

"Come here." Blaze had his typical childish grin on his face and Chupi did as she was told.

"What are you-"She didn't finish that question since Blaze had wrapped her up in a hug. He had her almost completely flush against him, which was far beyond what their usual friendly hugs were. And to make matters worse he was warm, incredibly, incredibly warm. She could feel her face becoming red and she hoped it was because of the heat he was radiating. "Mew, you're really warm. Is this normal?"

He was so hot, almost uncomfortably so. She didn't know whether to melt into it or try to get free, so she began to wiggle around in his grip.

"Not till I'm done!" Blaze squeezed her tighter until she was fully pressed into him.

'It's embarrassing enough without you rubbing against me.' Blaze ducked his head down onto her shoulder to hide his face.

The extra squeeze definitely made her stop moving. She let out a little squeak that was muffled by his jacket and began counting the seconds as he held her.

…23, 24, 25…

…37, 38, 39…

How long was this hug going to last?

"Okay. That side's good." Blaze finally released her and spun her around. Chupi sighed in relief as fresh air hit her hot face, even the steam from the hot springs felt cold compared to Blaze. Chupi was thankful to finally be free only to have him grab her again with her back to him.

"W-What are you doing Blaze?" Chupi finally managed to ask now that her face wasn't squished into his jacket.

"Drying your clothes."

"Oh…OH!" Chupi felt stupid. It seemed so obvious now. He wasn't normally this warm, so he must be using his fire to increase his body heat and dry her off. Why didn't he just say so in the first place?

"Wait. What did you think I was doing?" Blaze leaned down to try to look at her.

"I don't know! You could just be acting like your weird self!" Chupi cried indignantly. "How was I supposed to know what you're doing when you just grab me?"

"Weird? I thought we agreed that you were the weird one!"

"That's irrelevant." Chupi huffed.

"Well, I think you're mostly dry now." Blaze let her go and she shivered from the loss of warmth. "Here, take my jacket."

Before she could protest he had already forced her arms into the holes, zipped it up, and pulled the hood over her head.

"But Blaze, this is yours."

"This way the hood will block the view and you won't see anything you don't want to. Besides, it's a perfect fit!" Blaze gave a thumbs up.

"…Hardly." The sleeves were far too long and the jacket ended below her shorts. At least the large size of the hood guaranteed that half her face would be covered and limit her view of naked pokemon.

"I'll be right back with Erick. Stay put okay?" Blaze turned to walk towards the main bathing area.

"Yes mother." Chupi stood there waiting for her partner and Erick to come back, so in the mean time she fiddled with the sleeves and experimented trying to roll them up. They would just slide back down as soon as she moved her arm. She sighed and gave up when she heard a loud noise coming towards her.

"RUN CHUPI!" Blaze called and grabbed her arm to start sprinting. Erick was next to them with his head tilted back in laughter. They were currently running away from a herd of angry naked girls trying to throw whatever they could get their hands on at the sandslash.

"What did you do Erick?" Chupi screamed. She was really happy for all those hours at the gym on the treadmill right now.

"I guess a couple of them got jealous." Erick snickered to himself.

"Get back here Erick!" The pretty slugma girl from before screeched at him and threw a rock "How dare you hit on me and then make out with my sister, Jessica!"

"Jessica? He kissed me!" a mankey shouted.

"What? You too?!" another slugma, presumably Jessica, asked. "Let's kill him!"

"Do you flirt with everything that has boobs?!" Blaze looked like he was about to hit him.

"Only the pretty ones." Erick retorted, astounded that Blaze would accuse him of such a thing. "I have taste, thank you very much."

Finally though, after entering the jungle area they were able to lose the girls but still kept running back to guild in case some of them hadn't given up yet. Soon enough they were standing and panting in front of the Wigglytent.

** Haha, you guys actually thought I'd kill off Blaze? You're so silly.**

**I imagine Chupi and Blaze being pretty awkward in their relationship seeing as neither of them are used to having friends let alone someone to be romantically involved with.**

**I think I need a beta reader**


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